The King's Note
by Bloodstained Comma
Summary: Katherine Lynton picked up the Shinigami King's Death Note and can see every one of their kind. Upon discovering the identities of Kira and L, will she sit back and watch their battle ensue or will her own feelings force her to take sides? LxOC REWRITING
1. Prologue: Burned Paper

**_A/N April 01, 2011_**_**  
Before** anyone reads this, I strongly recognize that the characters in this fanfiction are Mary-Sues-**THAT'S WHY I'M REWRITING THIS. **This story was first uploaded ages ago, and I didn't plan it well enough initially. That's why it says that it's **discontinued** in the description. And, again, that's why it's being rewritten. And before you flame, at least read to the end of the damned story, where my Author Note that this annoys even **me** happens to be, you know? Also, anonymous flames, are going to be deleted without mercy on this fan fiction. Seriously, if you're going to flame a discontinued story, at least have the balls to log in so I can reply to you and explain to you that yeah, this story **sucks** and I'm rewriting it for that very reason. The only reason that I left this story up is more or less out of courtesy to my readers. Once the rewrite is finished, or at least catches up, this one is going to be taken down.  
_

_If you want to review this story, I would strongly prefer that you review the rewrite. It's easy enough to find. Go to my profile, go to my stories, and click on **The King's Note (rewrite)**. If you're going to flame anything, flame that. It's a much more recent sample of my writing, and even I cringe when I read this version now. Flaming a story discontinued because I myself decided that it needed work is pointless and, frankly, quite stupid. Don't make yourself look dumb._

_I would again like to stress that any anonymous flames to this fanfiction will be deleted. I normally appreciate flames. I appreciate everyone's opinions. But in this case, it's just annoying. Now, any non-anonymous flamers, I **wouldn't** delete your reviews even if I could; I will reply and explain that I have a rewrite because I thought all of the same things about this version that you did, if you didn't bother reading this author note but still took time out of your schedule to write a twenty-paragraph flame. I'll even be polite about it. But I'm not going to put up with cowards. If you're going to flame, if you're going to review at all, then take the time to log in. I'd love to hear your opinions, and I'd love to discuss them with you via PM. If you review anonymously, then I can't really do that._

_I'm sorry if I seem a bit bitchy right now. But anonymous flames are sort of a pet peeve of mine. I'm always looking to improve, so if there's no way for me to discuss it with you, or to agree with you and direct you to my improved (or so I believe) rewrite, I get a little pissed off. So please, please, please, if you're going to flame, log in. If you don't have an account, make one. If you don't want to make an account, then don't bother flaming this version of this story, because I'm not going to bother leaving your review up. I do hope that's clear enough._

_That's pretty much all. Again, very sorry if I seem bitchy at the moment. I just woke up and feel like crap, and I hope you can forgive me. Honestly, I would prefer new readers didn't read this version at all. Seriously, go to my profile, go to my stories, and check out the rewrite. Because any further opinions on this version, I really don't care about them, because my opinion of it is already low enough to account for any flame you can toss at me. And now, I'm off to work on the rewrite._

_Adieu, friends, fans, and flamers.  
Comma_

_

* * *

_

_I figure it's safest to do a disclaimer so I don't get sued at any point in time. I do not own the rights to any Death Note characters, I just love the manga and I felt like rewriting it. Reviews would be very much appreciated :)_

* * *

Katherine Lynton hadn't been the girl's name at the orphanage. She practically never had a name. It had always just been Jane Doe. Because she was still a newborn baby when her parents had left her in front of the door of an old apartment building, she had no name. There were not many records of a birth of a child matching her description in any local hospitals, either. The ones that did fit her description were all safe and sound with their parents, and she was the one who had no family. She wasn't sure she wanted to know a pair of parents who were willing to leave their child in front of an apartment building on one of the most dangerous streets in that town.

Katherine had seen it fit to get out of her orphanage when she turned fourteen. She was dead tired of being picked on by everyone. She had always been an independent rule breaker, from the time she was old enough to walk. She had broken the biggest rule of all by running away from the orphanage and making it to the other side of the country. They would never find her, she was sure of it, especially not with her new name and identity. Even though she was so young, her three closest friends were basically crooks, ones who specialized in identity fraud and had helped hook her up with a new life. She spent a lot of her time in her small countryside home, and she liked it there. She took a shopping trip once a week to stock up on soda and junk food and microwavable meals to live off of. It was a year following her move that she had come across something interesting in her driveway.

Lying in the middle of her cobblestone driveway was a black notebook. She looked at it curiously as she walked up her driveway to her mailbox. She picked it up and read two words on its black cover: Death Note. That was definitely interesting. Also, it was completely empty. That was very curious. She took it to the mailbox with her, where she checked and found nothing. She took the notebook back into her house and sat on her couch.

_This is definitely strange_, Katherine thought to herself as she flipped it over in her hands. _Death Note? Is that some kind of joke? What does it mean? Hmm. It's a nice notebook, anyway, and nothing's ever been written in it. I doubt anyone'll miss – what in the name of God is __**that**__?_

Katherine had looked up from the notebook to see the strangest creature standing in front of her. She gulped as she stared wide-eyed at it. It stood seven, maybe eight feet tall. It was entirely white and sort of boney. Its lips were purplish, and so were the tips of its hair. It was a strange looking thing, even though it was somewhat humanoid. She tilted her head, wondering if it was going to speak at all. When she decided only a moment later that it probably wouldn't, she saved it the trouble.

"Who're you?" she asked it curiously.

"_My name is Rem,_" it said. "_I am a Shinigami._"

"That's interesting…" Katherine said, quite unnerved. "So, what's a Shinigami?" She looked down at the notebook before it could answer, and she spoke again. "Did you drop this by some chance? It was just lying in my driveway."

"_It's been lying there for hours, apparently. I didn't drop it, another of my kind did. Shinigami are reapers. The one who dropped that was our king, who rarely leaves our world._"

"Cool," she said, nodding. She laughed nervously. "Did you come to kill me and get it back?"

"_No,_" Rem said. "_The human who picks up a Death Note becomes the owner of that note._" Seeing the still confused look on Katherine's face, it continued. "_A Death Note is what Shinigami use to take lives. When you write a name in that note while picturing that person's face, it kills them. If you write the cause of death within forty seconds, that person will die of that cause. Once you have written the cause, you may also write details of the death within the following six minutes and forty seconds._"

"So I can kill people with this, just by writing their name?"

"_Yes. If you write only the name, they die of a heart attack in forty seconds_."

"Wow," Katherine said, looking at the notebook. She set it down on the coffee table in front of the sofa she was seated on. She shifted nervously. "Can other people see you?"

"_Only those who touch that Death Note or my Death Note. If you had picked up mine, you would only be able to see me. However, because that belonged to our king, you can see us all._"

"Huh."

"_You seem very accepting of all of this. More than most humans._"

"I've been interested in supernatural things since I was really young," she said, looking at the notebook. "Besides, what point would I make by denying something that's standing in front of me?

"So… what… exactly… no…" She shook her head, and then looked at Rem. "How do you know peoples' names to write them down?"

"_Shinigami can see peoples' names and how long they have left to live._"

"Can you see mine?"

"_I'm not allowed to tell you what it is unless you already know._"

She sighed. "That's no good."

"_However, you can make a trade. You can trade your eyes for Shinigami eyes –"_

"So I could see my name when I look in the mirror?"

"_But there would be a price to pay. Half of the remaining years of your life._"

"No!" Katherine said. "I'm not stupid, I don't have a death wish, and I'm not suicidal, thank you!" She lay down on her couch and continued to look at Rem. "So I can see all of your kind?"

"_In the human world._"

"That's interesting. And what would happen if I lost the note?"

"_Nothing. If you forfeit it, however, by giving it back to a Shinigami in this world, then you will forget ever owning it. Do you wish to do so?_"

"I…"

Katherine thought seriously about it. For what her parents had done to her… but could she really kill someone? Killing was wrong, there was no doubt about that, but she could have died with what they did to her. Eye for an eye; that was always her belief…. So it wouldn't be so bad, not as bad as if she did it unprovoked. She didn't know their names yet. She would forfeit the note as soon as she knew their names and their faces, then. That would be fine.

"No," Katherine said. "It could come in handy for me."

"_There is one other rule unique to this note_," Rem said. "_I'll tell you that one before I leave. Most Shinigami don't even have this power. If you write a name on a page of the note and then burn it, then that person cannot be killed by any other Death Note. That is one rule you may not tell any other Death Note owner, if you ever meet one. Most people who possess a Death Note will be followed by the Shinigami who dropped it. However, because of this circumstance, that won't be the case. You will not be followed. You will be able to hear and see all other Shinigami in the world, but they will not know you can see or hear them unless you tell them you can, unless they already know who you are. Also, don't think that a human who writes a name in the Death Note can ever go to Heaven or Hell. When you die, you'll be left in an eternal nothingness._"

"Cool," Katherine said with a nervous laugh.

"_As I said, I will not be following you because that note does not belong to me. So, for now, goodbye._"

"Bye, Rem," she said, waving as she watched it spread a pair of wings and fly upward, then straight through the ceiling. Katherine looked back down at the Death Note. She laughed a little. "So now I'm going insane. That's great."

Katherine tucked her hands behind her head as she lay on the couch. If she had imagined the winged thing, then there was no point in worrying about it. She couldn't see any other logical explanation to explain why it had been there. It would take another three years before she knew the truth behind the creature's existence.

_I figure it's safest to do a disclaimer so I don't get sued at any point in time. I do not own the rights to any Death Note characters, I just love the manga and I felt like rewriting it. Reviews would be very much appreciated :)_

* * *

Katherine Lynton hadn't been the girl's name at the orphanage. She practically never had a name. It had always just been Jane Doe. Because she was still a newborn baby when her parents had left her in front of the door of an old apartment building, she had no name. There were not many records of a birth of a child matching her description in any local hospitals, either. The ones that did fit her description were all safe and sound with their parents, and she was the one who had no family. She wasn't sure she wanted to know a pair of parents who were willing to leave their child in front of an apartment building on one of the most dangerous streets in that town.

Katherine had seen it fit to get out of her orphanage when she turned fourteen. She was dead tired of being picked on by everyone. She had always been an independent rule breaker, from the time she was old enough to walk. She had broken the biggest rule of all by running away from the orphanage and making it to the other side of the country. They would never find her, she was sure of it, especially not with her new name and identity. Even though she was so young, her three closest friends were basically crooks, ones who specialized in identity fraud and had helped hook her up with a new life. She spent a lot of her time in her small countryside home, and she liked it there. She took a shopping trip once a week to stock up on soda and junk food and microwavable meals to live off of. It was a year following her move that she had come across something interesting in her driveway.

Lying in the middle of her cobblestone driveway was a black notebook. She looked at it curiously as she walked up her driveway to her mailbox. She picked it up and read two words on its black cover: Death Note. That was definitely interesting. Also, it was completely empty. That was very curious. She took it to the mailbox with her, where she checked and found nothing. She took the notebook back into her house and sat on her couch.

_This is definitely strange_, Katherine thought to herself as she flipped it over in her hands. _Death Note? Is that some kind of joke? What does it mean? Hmm. It's a nice notebook, anyway, and nothing's ever been written in it. I doubt anyone'll miss – what in the name of God is __**that**__?_

Katherine had looked up from the notebook to see the strangest creature standing in front of her. She gulped as she stared wide-eyed at it. It stood seven, maybe eight feet tall. It was entirely white and sort of boney. Its lips were purplish, and so were the tips of its hair. It was a strange looking thing, even though it was somewhat humanoid. She tilted her head, wondering if it was going to speak at all. When she decided only a moment later that it probably wouldn't, she saved it the trouble.

"Who're you?" she asked it curiously.

"_My name is Rem,_" it said. "_I am a Shinigami._"

"That's interesting…" Katherine said, quite unnerved. "So, what's a Shinigami?" She looked down at the notebook before it could answer, and she spoke again. "Did you drop this by some chance? It was just lying in my driveway."

"_It's been lying there for hours, apparently. I didn't drop it, another of my kind did. Shinigami are reapers. The one who dropped that was our king, who rarely leaves our world._"

"Cool," she said, nodding. She laughed nervously. "Did you come to kill me and get it back?"

"_No,_" Rem said. "_The human who picks up a Death Note becomes the owner of that note._" Seeing the still confused look on Katherine's face, it continued. "_A Death Note is what Shinigami use to take lives. When you write a name in that note while picturing that person's face, it kills them. If you write the cause of death within forty seconds, that person will die of that cause. Once you have written the cause, you may also write details of the death within the following six minutes and forty seconds._"

"So I can kill people with this, just by writing their name?"

"_Yes. If you write only the name, they die of a heart attack in forty seconds_."

"Wow," Katherine said, looking at the notebook. She set it down on the coffee table in front of the sofa she was seated on. She shifted nervously. "Can other people see you?"

"_Only those who touch that Death Note or my Death Note. If you had picked up mine, you would only be able to see me. However, because that belonged to our king, you can see us all._"

"Huh."

"_You seem very accepting of all of this. More than most humans._"

"I've been interested in supernatural things since I was really young," she said, looking at the notebook. "Besides, what point would I make by denying something that's standing in front of me?

"So… what… exactly… no…" She shook her head, and then looked at Rem. "How do you know peoples' names to write them down?"

"_Shinigami can see peoples' names and how long they have left to live._"

"Can you see mine?"

"_I'm not allowed to tell you what it is unless you already know._"

She sighed. "That's no good."

"_However, you can make a trade. You can trade your eyes for Shinigami eyes –"_

"So I could see my name when I look in the mirror?"

"_But there would be a price to pay. Half of the remaining years of your life._"

"No!" Katherine said. "I'm not stupid, I don't have a death wish, and I'm not suicidal, thank you!" She lay down on her couch and continued to look at Rem. "So I can see all of your kind?"

"_In the human world._"

"That's interesting. And what would happen if I lost the note?"

"_Nothing. If you forfeit it, however, by giving it back to a Shinigami in this world, then you will forget ever owning it. Do you wish to do so?_"

"I…"

Katherine thought seriously about it. For what her parents had done to her… but could she really kill someone? Killing was wrong, there was no doubt about that, but she could have died with what they did to her. Eye for an eye; that was always her belief…. So it wouldn't be so bad, not as bad as if she did it unprovoked. She didn't know their names yet. She would forfeit the note as soon as she knew their names and their faces, then. That would be fine.

"No," Katherine said. "It could come in handy for me."

"_There is one other rule unique to this note_," Rem said. "_I'll tell you that one before I leave. Most Shinigami don't even have this power. If you write a name on a page of the note and then burn it, then that person cannot be killed by any other Death Note. That is one rule you may not tell any other Death Note owner, if you ever meet one. Most people who possess a Death Note will be followed by the Shinigami who dropped it. However, because of this circumstance, that won't be the case. You will not be followed. You will be able to hear and see all other Shinigami in the world, but they will not know you can see or hear them unless you tell them you can, unless they already know who you are. Also, don't think that a human who writes a name in the Death Note can ever go to Heaven or Hell. When you die, you'll be left in an eternal nothingness._"

"Cool," Katherine said with a nervous laugh.

"_As I said, I will not be following you because that note does not belong to me. So, for now, goodbye._"

"Bye, Rem," she said, waving as she watched it spread a pair of wings and fly upward, then straight through the ceiling. Katherine looked back down at the Death Note. She laughed a little. "So now I'm going insane. That's great."

Katherine tucked her hands behind her head as she lay on the couch. If she had imagined the winged thing, then there was no point in worrying about it. She couldn't see any other logical explanation to explain why it had been there. It would take another three years before she knew the truth behind the creature's existence.


	2. Chapter 1: A New Lead

"And now a few words from the freshmen representatives."

Light Yagami was seated amongst a crowd of silent college students. Light waited patiently for his name to be called. As he'd made a perfect score on both his English and Math exams in his senior year of high school before entering college, he was a representative. He'd always heard that there was only supposed to be one representative, but it was apparent that someone else must have scored perfectly on the exams as well.

Next to him, but not seated, was Ryuk. Ryuk wasn't a college student, but a Shinigami – a reaper. His appearance was quite strange. His face was paper white, and his eyes completely round and red. His hair was in tall and stiff black spikes, and his teeth were bright white and pointed, contrasting with his black lips. His attire was all black and looked like a somewhat sinister jester's costume. His shoes were also pointed at the ends. He wore one dangling silver earring in his left ear that was in the shape of a silver heart.

Ryuk was no surprise to anyone at the college. This was attributed to the fact that they couldn't see or hear him; no one except Light could, as far as they both knew. He had gained that ability when he picked up the Death Note of a Shinigami; that Death Note had belonged to Ryuk, who had dropped it on purpose just to see what would happen. He'd gotten bored with a life in the underworld of his kind. So, Ryuk had become almost like a pet dog to Light. Light had to buy him the same food every time it ran out. Ryuk followed him everywhere. He also seemed to find Light quite interesting, as well as all other humans; they were definitely far more interesting than the other Shinigami from his own world.

"Light Yagami."

"Here," Light answered, standing.

"_Wow_," Ryuk said; Light hadn't told him _that_. "_Nice._"

"Hideki Ryuuga."

"Here," said a boy on the same row as Light, also standing.

"And Katherine Lynton."

"Here," said a girl on the same row.

All of the students watched the unlikely trio walk to the stage. Light was dressed as neatly as anyone else – or, at least, almost anyone else – in the stadium. Katherine was dressed neatly as well, but had made some obvious altercations to that neatness. Her skirt was a little bit shorter than the other girls'. She also wore platform leather boots instead of standard black dress shoes; she needed them, however, as it appeared she'd be only a little over five feet tall without them on. She had her black jacket's sleeves folded up to her elbows and her white undershirt's sleeves folded up just below. Her jacket was completely unbuttoned, and her shirt was tighter than most. Even if she'd had a Japanese name, it would have been easy to tell that she was European or American in herritage just by her facial features. This made her a stranger sight to the students of Touou University.

She was a plain and simple sight compared to Hideki. He walked somewhat slumped over. His shirt was simply a slightly loose white one made of t-shirt material. His pants were only blue jeans, and his shoes were untied sneakers. It also appeared he hadn't had much sleep in a while, judging by the dark circles beneath his eyes.

Katherine already knew who the other two really were after some extensive research. Light was the now legendary "Kira," who killed criminals and those who came after him with means that no one knew about. Hideki was the equally legendary "L," a criminal investigator who worked privately with almost no contact to the world outside of wherever he happened to be staying at the time, except through computers and cellular phones. He only had one associate, one partner in his work, an old man that went by the name of Watari. She wouldn't mention that she knew anything… at least, not that she knew anything about Kira.

She had of course discovered that Light was Kira because of his Shinigami. She had spotted it flying down the sidewalk behind him, begging for an apple. It had been a genuine stroke of luck, one that she was quite thankful for. She knew that Light had a Death Note because of that Shinigami, so that was how he was killing people. She had no physical evidence, however. For all she knew, someone else in Japan could have a Shinigami and a Death Note. By having her spies follow him and take notes on his personality and actions throughout the day, she had become sure that Light Yagami had to be Kira. There was no doubt in her mind that he matched the criteria perfectly, and as the Death Note caused heart attacks if the cause of death wasn't specified, it made him fit into the picture perfectly.

Katherine stood at the very end of the table on the stage, so she'd be last to make a small speech. Light was up first. Katherine took her opportunity now to see how she could manipulate the Kira investigation. She knew there was absolutely no evidence on her, but if she was to let it be known that she knew important information, there was bound to be some suspicion. Katherine pulled a small piece of paper out of her pocket, as well as a pen. She wrote on it under the table quickly, pocketed her pen, and put her elbows on the table. She passed the paper over on top of the table, unnoticed by the crowd, as there were already a few papers scattered over the desk. The only person who noticed was "Ryuuga," since it was sitting on the desk in front of him. His eyes widened for a short moment – after all, it was a very surprising sentence, reading quite plainly, "I know you're L."

He glanced over at her. The expression of complete boredom on her face halfway made L wonder if he was only imagining the piece of paper. She definitely didn't look like a person who had just accused him of being a detective that no one knew the true identity of. He looked back down, and it was still there. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. Maybe she was only bluffing. If she was bluffing, though, how could she have known to target _him_? She didn't seem like much, but if she had gotten into Toudai, then that was saying something, especially seeing as she was a freshman representative. She seemed like the stereotype of a typical European or American anarchist, so what she was doing in a law school was puzzlingly unclear. Perhaps she was tracking him? There was every possibility that she could have been Kira. There was a possibility that anyone could have been Kira. So far, Light Yagami had been the best assumption, but with this… she definitely didn't look like a serial killer, but Light Yagami didn't particularly look like one either. If she was Kira, however, wouldn't her last action been a somewhat obvious giveaway? The Kira that he'd been tracking would have realized that…

It took Katherine a lot of restraint to not laugh at the confused, distant expression on L's face now. She knew he was contemplating on either how she had figured out who he was or whether or not this placed her in the category of possible Kira suspects. Even she was sometimes amazed by the things she found humorous. How could she possibly be amused by the fact that L and Kira were standing barely a foot away from each other and neither of them even knew it? L did have some idea, as was proven by the cameras and mikes she had her spies set up in his hotel rooms every time he switched. Now, she would be able to watch the meeting tonight with the investigation team to see if he decided what place she was in regarding the Kira investigation. It was doubtful that he would just shake it off as a false accusation. With the point they were at in the case (completely stumped with very little hope), they were all probably looking for as many leads as they could get.

Light finished his quick speech and backed up to allow Ryuuga the microphone. Katherine moved over, so Light stood at the end of the table. The reaper sitting in the front row was definitely his, for she had seen it following him the few times she had seen it, and she had also seen Light quietly speaking with it. So, it would be fun to mess with Light's head as well. She had a few more small slips of paper in her pocket, just for the reason that she had a tendency to forget important things if she didn't write them down. However, the paper went to a more important use: to amuse her boredom. She really hadn't wanted to go to college, but she knew that she'd be able to befriend both Kira and L if she tried hard enough, which would help her in her own investigation. She pulled another slip of paper out of her pocket and wrote on it.

"_That Shinigami that followed you in the school is pretty awesome. I've got one, too, but mine's always too busy to hang out with me. They make pretty cool pets, but buying all those apples can get to be a pain in the ass, ya know what I mean?"_

Katherine passed over the paper in the same manner as before. She put her pen in her pocket, crossed her arms over the table, and left the paper sitting in front of Light. He looked down at it, and she saw a momentary fear in his eyes that quite clearly looked as though it reflected a thought of, "Does she know I'm Kira?" He was obviously going to try to get rid of her. She knew too much, after all. Light looked up and stared at the Shinigami sitting in front of the chairs. It stared back.

"_What?_" it asked.

Light jerked his head slightly, indicating for it to come up to the stage. I was a small gesture noticed by no one but Katherine and the Shinigami. It did as it was instructed, spreading out a pair of black bat wings on its back to fly up behind Light.

"_Need something?_"

Light was writing on the back of the slip of paper under the desk with his own pen. He put the pen back in his pocket and held the paper out back behind him for the Shinigami to read. It laughed.

"_That's interesting. Wonder how._"

Katherine was sure that the note told the Shinigami that she could see it. Light crumpled the paper into a ball and put it in his pocket. The Shinigami remained on stage as Katherine took to the microphone to make her own short speech. She kept it very short, as public speaking made her extremely nervous. That was one of her major flaws, she had to admit. She finished and headed back to her chair out in the audience of college students. Light and Ryuuga walked a little more slowly, obviously discussing something on the way back to their seats. Maybe Ryuuga knew that Light was the son of the chief investigator of the Kira case, Soichiro Yagami, and was asking if his father ever mentioned anything about the Kira case. Maybe he was telling Light that he was L? That might not be too unlikely. It would definitely confuse Light. Maybe he was telling Light that he was now suspicious of Katherine. Did they possibly already know each other? She supposed it was possible that they had attended the same high school, but it was very unlikely that they had ever spoken. Light Yagami was obviously used to popularity, and Ryuuga was obviously not. She shrugged it off, deciding not to worry about it. She'd know everything she needed to later that night.

* * *

Katherine sat down on the couch in the surveillance room in her house, peeling the wrapper off of a chocolate bar. She used her main control panel sitting on the corner of the coffee table in front of her to turn on all the televisions at once. L was just sitting down on the chair in front of his own surveillance televisions. It appeared that he had summoned the entire investigation team there. He definitely had something important to say.

"We may have a new lead in the Kira case," he told them, reaching for a small cup on the table in front of him. "Meaning, we may have a new suspect."

"Really?" Soichiro Yagami asked, astounded. After the persistence with which L had insisted that Light was Kira, he had become positive that L would never give up on that suspicion.

"Yes," L said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out the slip of paper that she had handed him earlier and handed it to Yagami. "One of the freshmen representatives of Touou University."

"'One of'?" Touta Matsuda asked. "Really? I thought that Light got perfect scores?"

"As had I and one other freshman. I still am suspicious of Light Yagami, but now there is a new suspect that seems to be more likely than him."

"It's strange that he took this sort of action, though," Yagami said, handing the slip of paper back. "Kira would have known that it would make you suspicious, wouldn't he?"

"I thought about that," L said. "But Kira would also would know that that's exactly the way that I would think by now. If she is Kira and she knows who I am, there's a possibility she could either have spies or cameras planted in this room. That makes it seem less likely, as Kira wouldn't take the risk of spies being caught or cameras being found. Right now, there is about a fifteen percent chance she's Kira and a one percent chance that Light Yagami is. Watari," he added. The old man sitting by a computer at another table looked up. "Prepare cameras and microphones. Once we determine where she is staying, they will be placed there to cover every angle."

Katherine laughed a little. _Pulling my own trick on me… _she thought to herself._ The only thing you'll prove is that I'm one of the biggest anti-Kira fanatics in the world when you find my research. I won't be acting suspicious if I have nothing to hide. I'll even allow you to find my surveillance quarters, why not? I might even befriend you and __**tell**__ you where I live._

She pulled out her cell phone. She loved playing tricks far too much, but she couldn't help it at a time like this. There was a voice modification chip in that particular phone, so her voice would sound robotic, like with the broadcast L had made to Kira over the news about a year ago. She dialed a number and held the phone to her ear. She watched on the screen as Watari answered the phone.

"Yes?"

"I would like to speak with Ryuzaki," she said. She could hear her altered voice in the background of the phone, so she knew her voice would be completely unidentifiable.

"Who is this?"

"I would like to speak with L, Watari," she said. "Please put him on the phone."

On the cameras, Katherine watched Watari stand and take the phone over to L. She listened to them on the microphones through her television sets.

"Ryuzaki," Watari said, "someone on the phone wishes to speak with you."

"Who?" he asked.

"They won't give their name."

L held out his hand without looking over. Watari handed him the phone. With his eyes fixated on the blank television screens in front of him, he spoke into the phone.

"Who is this?"

"That's not the friendliest of greetings, L."

He paused for a moment, taking in the electronic voice. The voice filter sounded nearly identical to the one he most often used.

"You're using a voice filter. Very smart. If you won't tell me who you are, then tell me how you know who I am."

"Is that really so important? I have ways of finding people. I also have ways of finding their intentions. The girl isn't Kira. She seems suspicious, but she isn't the most likely suspect."

"Then who is?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Then why should I believe you?"

She laughed. "Not very trusting, are we? Fine. Do as you please. Investigate her and let the real Kira live freely while you waste your time chasing someone who is also fighting Kira. I'll also continue to investigate the real Kira on _my_ own. By the way, L." She remembered something from suicide notes that had been written by Kira's victims as what was most likely a part of an experiment. She knew making mention of the hidden message in them would confuse him. "Did you know reapers only eat apples?"

She shut her phone quickly. She laughed at the rather astonished look L was giving the phone he was holding. She didn't have much time to laugh before her other phone rang, however. She took that one out of her pocket, setting her anonymous phone on the sofa next to her. She checked the caller ID, then answered, speaking in English.

"'Ello, Pat," she said. "How's everything going with the current plans?"

"We've gotten the motion sensitive cameras to be placed in Light Yagami's room," he said. "We only need to wait for you to tell us when to act now."

"Very, _very_ good, thank you all very much. Don't act yet, however. Give it a day or two. Hell, surprise me with it. Just make sure you don't get caught. I can't afford to loose you lot. Considering one of you was framed with murder and you three can't use aliases as you're _all_ convicted felons, you'll be in danger if Yagami sees your faces."

"Yeah, we all know that," Pat said. "You're sure this bloke is Kira?"

"Positive," she said. "L is planning to have cameras placed in my house as soon as he figures out where I live, also, I'm watching a meeting of the Kira investigation team."

"Why's 'e doing that?"

"I told him I know that he's L. Wrote it on a piece of paper in the middle of the assembly at the college, so he couldn't even ask." She laughed. "It was pretty funny. Light Yagami also knows that I can see his Shinigami, so he's just as confused, probably.

"I also just got off the phone with L. I used my anonymous phone, so since the voice filter's in that one, he had no idea who I was. He's suspecting me to be Kira now, anyway. More so even than Light Yagami. We agreed on basically every aspect of the case so far – of course, he doesn't know that – so it's strange to come to such a strange snag. Of course, L's the top investigator in the world. Perhaps I am Kira," she said with a laugh.

"You find the strangest shit funny."

"I know," she said. "Yagami Light and Ryuuga Hideki – meaning Kira and L – and myself were the freshmen representatives at Touou University, so we were all onstage at the same time. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing in the middle of all our small speeches. Anyone else who knew probably would've told. I've been watching this all for a year now, and it never fails to give me a laugh, so I'm not saying anything yet. I think I'm going to join L's side, though. I support killing murderers, eye for an eye makes sense, but suppose that about fifteen percent of those he has killed were falsely named murderers? Then, he's killed innocent people. Not to mention, he attacks those who are on L's side such as Raye Penber, and those who know too much such as – to my belief – Naomi Misora. L is fighting to stop Kira from doing such things. While the crime rate of the entire world may have gone down drastically, it doesn't mean Kira is right."

"I couldn't agree more," Pat said. "The three of us are living in fear that we're all going to get killed, so we can barely do anything."

"Yeah," Katherine said, laughing. "This directly affects impulsive criminals such as yourselves, doesn't it?"

"Definitely," Pat said defensively. "And you know you need us to help you in this case since it's hard to act alone _and_ outside of this case since you have no identity of your own, so to speak"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, I'm just messing with you. Now, Kira investigation meeting is getting interesting again, I've got to go. Call back any time you have more updates."

"Alright. See ya."

"Bye."

Katherine shut her phone and listened to the team and L discussing the call he'd gotten.

"Then again…" Yagami was saying to L, "what if the person on the phone was the one you're suspecting?"

"I already thought of that…" he said. "We'll find that out when we wire wherever she happens to be staying. If there's a surveillance room, it should be easy to locate."

She grinned. "It's easy to find, but only because I'm not going to hide it from you."

"If she's watching us, then she knows what we're planning," Shuichi Aizawa said as Katherine watched them. "So she'd check for cameras."

"I doubt she'll get rid of them, in an attempt to make us think she isn't watching us, if she even is, which is about fifteen percent likely. So, we'll still be able to see what she does. If she slips up or acts overly natural, then there's more proof."

"How do you tell the difference between someone actually acting natural and someone pretending to, then?" Matsuda asked curiously.

"There are ways," L said. "It's easy to identify someone who is acting natural just for the sake of avoiding suspicion."


	3. Chapter 2: Nameless

Katherine sat on a bench at college close to the end of the day. Toudai was a fairly nice place to relax, and she saw no need to go home. Out of the corner of her eye, as she read boredly through one of her textbooks, she spotted a winged figure. She glanced over and saw that Light and L were walking out towards the tennis court, the Shinigami from yesterday floating along behind them with its bat wings spread out. Of course L had the same exact idea she had: pretend to befriend the suspect to get closer to more information. It was a smart thing to do, most definitely, but Katherine was being a little slower and less suspicious about it. Her and Light had a few of the same classes, so she had just been speaking with him durring the classes. It was best to wait for the information to come to her. He was bound to ask after a while how she could see the Shinigami, after all.

It didn't take long for a fairly large crowd to form around the tennis court. She heard someone stop next to her. She didn't bother looking up, as she was looking down to the tennis court. She looked over when they spoke, however.

"What's going on down there?"

She knew the voice, but it took her a moment to comprehend who it belonged to. It hit her immediately, however.

"Pat, you fucking retard," she said. "_You're_ not supposed to be out in public! Kira goes to this college, if he sees you and recognizes you as a criminal you're –"

"Not dead, it's Al that's accused of murder," he said, sitting down. "Seriously, what _is_ up with that crowd?"

"Tennis?" she suggested with a shrug. "I know that Kira and L headed down that way first. I'm just silently gathering information in the shadows. That's the way I work. I've got a few classes with both of them, so I talk to them in there, but that's the only occasion so far. I don't have to worry much about L thanks to the cameras, so I talk to Light more often. I'm wondering when he's going to ask how I can see the Shinigami that follows him around. It seems like he would have asked me that before he said anything else. He's probably trying to forget it."

"You said yourself that you confused the hell out of him," he said. "I doubt he'll forget, though. You just don't forget when someone tells you they can see something following you around."

"Yeah," she said with a laugh. "Another thing," she added. "Not pertaining to the Kira case. Any ideas yet?"

"We think so," he said. "We just have to make a couple phone calls and ask, but we're pretty sure we found your parents."

"Right. They don't matter at the moment. What I really want to know… does it look like I have a name as of right now?"

"Not really," he said. "It looks like you probably weren't born in a hospital. If you don't have a name by law, then you're probably Kira proof, but I don't know, and I also don't know any reapers that I can personally ask."

"That's a pity, that means I have to ask… I'm considering doing the eye trade-up now, I need to know. It'll make it a lot easier on me in this case. I won't have to worry about dying. I know for a fact that those lazy idiots at the orphanage never filled out any papers about me now, so that's a good sign. If I wasn't born at the hospital, that means that I don't exist as far as the government is concerned. The question is, will that work as far as Kira's concerned…"

"We still don't know for a fact yet," he said. "That's why we need to find people _would_ know."

"My so-called parents, in other words. What in hell is going on over there?" she added, hearing a sudden uproar from the crowd. "I guess the game's over. They'll probably walk past again soon."

Indeed, they did. Katherine heard their conversation, one that definitely made no sense, not for being on a college campus. Just as they were walking past, Katherine heard L tell Light that he believed Light was Kira. Katherine looked over at Pat.

"How'd you get here?"

"Cab."

"They're going to leave campus and discuss this somewhere else, I guarentee it," she said. "We're going to follow them."

"Won't that be a little suspicious?"

"L already suspects _I'm_ Kira," she said. "What point would be served in worrying about whether he knows I'm following him or not? Either way, he's going to be suspicious."

"Yeah…" Pat said. "I guess…"

Katherine watched as they continued walking past.

"Alright," Katherine said, picking up her bag of school books. "Let's go."

They listened to Light and Ryuuga as they followed at a fairly safe distance.

"So you think I'm Kira?" Light asked Ryuuga, laughing.

"I'm only about one percent sure right now," he said. "I hope you aren't, you'd be a big help if you aided in helping to search for Kira. I said that for another reason, more to see if we're going to be followed or not."

"What?"

"I'm still suspicious that you are Kira," he said, "but I'm more suspicious that someone else here is Kira now."

Katherine and Pat listened to them talking from a distance. Katherine was already devising a plan. She knew L had already told Light that he was L after listening to the meeting in the meeting room the night before for a little longer. He had said that Light's reaction was fairly normal and made him seem a little less suspicious. If she took action at this point, she knew it would confuse the both of them even further.

"Stay back here," she said.

"Why?"

"I have an idea. Here." She reached into her pocket and got out her keys. She handed them to Pat. "You're in charge of the following now, I assume you already know where I park my car."

"Yeah, but why – hey, what're you doing??"

Katherine caught up with Light and L, just as Light was asking, "Who is it?"

"It's probably me," Katherine said. L looked for a moment as if he'd been shot. "Considering he's probably been suspicious since I told him something that only Kira would have been worried about yesterday. If I weren't doing my own investigation, then even I'd say there's a fifteen percent chance that I'm Kira."

"What're you doing an investigation for?" Light asked.

"Nothing better to do," she said with a shrug. "Seemed like a good idea at the time. It's mostly come to dead ends on the Kira side of the investigation so far, but I know a lot about who's searching for him right now."

L hadn't expected her to do this. It was a rather impetuous action on her part… unless she had come randomly out of the shadows in an attempt to further confuse him. Then it wouldn't have been such a rash move, it was actually well planned if she had considered that. Was it just a coincidence that she had said 'fifteen percent' exactly, just as he believed, or did she had his hotel room bugged? More importantly, she had been sitting alone on the bench when he and Light went down to the tennis court, and then there had been someone who wasn't a college student there when they came back. He also appeared European or American, like she was. Where had _he_ gone? Was he a spy of some kind? Maybe he was following them.

"Who is?"

"I'm not giving out any names," she said with a laugh. "But you probably already know that your dad is."

"Yeah," he said. "Any ideas on who L might be?"

"Plenty," she said. "I know that Ryuuga's working for L, for instance, but there's also a chance he could be L just as much. Right?" she said, looking at Ryuuga.

_Who in the world is this girl?_ Light thought to himself. _If she's this involved in the case, she can't possibly be dumb enough to use her real name in public, so it's probably not Katherine Lynton in reality, so I can't take her out of the picture yet_…._ It would be a stupid mistake to admit to being this involved in the case while using a real name. There's no doubt that Ryuuga's using a fake name, whether he's L or not. This girl's either really stupid or she's smart enough to make us think she's an idiot. And most of all… how in the world can she see Ryuk? Unless she's touched my Death Note, she shouldn't be able to, but she can._

"_I think she knows something, Light,_" Ryuk said, laughing.

"Shut up…" Light mumbled. Katherine heard, but pretended she didn't. "You realize she can hear you?"

"_Yes_," Ryuk said. "_I already told you, I'm not on anyone's side._"

That was very good to know for Katherine. The Shinigami was just following Light because he had to, not because he was helping him. So, she didn't have a Shinigami fighting against her. That was a huge relief.

"I do have a lot of theories on Kira," she said. "I'm not completely stupid. I don't know how true any of them are, I'm going to have to do a lot more research on them. Mostly, they seem fairly consistent with the main investigation team's theories."

"How do you know about them?" Light asked.

"I know people," she said with a laugh. "Luckily for me, I'm practically Kira proof. He can't kill without a name. So he can't kill someone who doesn't have a name. I probably have one, but I don't know my parents, so I don't know what the hell it is. Oh well. Makes the investigation a lot easier on me. I've got to be going now, though," she said. "And remember to talk to the team about that," she added to Ryuuga. "I have a lot of ideas on the case, and I know you're all in need of help right now."

_She knows what she's doing_... L thought as she turned and walked off. _That's easy to see. I just wish I could figure out what she's doing_.

"So?" Pat asked when Katherine got back to him. She grabbed her car keys from his hand.

"My plan's working," she said. "I should be on the investigation team very soon. Took less time than I thought, I thought you were going to have to follow me while I tagged along with them, but I don't think I need to do much more."

* * *

Upon returning from college that day, Katherine's daily routine remained basically the same. She would park her car down the street so no one could tell when she was home or away, and then she would walk to her small-but-comfortable house. She would turn her anonymous cell phone on and make sure no one had called it. She would find something to eat for dinner in the kitchen. Whether it was some sort of microwavable dish or a bag of potato chips didn't matter. There were more important things than nutrition to be worried about. She had the odd suspicion that there might be cameras set up in her house. It could have just been her paranoia giving her the suspicion that she was being watched, but she knew that L planned to have her house completely bugged and surveilled. That wasn't a comforting thought for her; she didn't enjoy the idea of being watched. To say it wasn't the right way to go, however, would be very hypocritical. This was one thing she thought about as she sat down on the couch in her surveillance room again and turned on the televisions. As yesterday, L was just sitting on the same chair he generally picked in that hotel room. The entire team was there… except Soichiro Yagami.

"Watari," he said. "Have the cameras and microphones put up in the new suspect's house tomorrow. Be sure to search for any hidden rooms that may be used for surveillance. Don't worry about disconnecting the cameras. That would seem suspicious."

"Isn't there every chance that she's watching us right now and she knows what we're planning?" Matsuda asked.

"Yes," L said. "There's almost a one hundred percent likeliness of that. Also then, there would be no point served in disconnecting the cameras. If she had them put up once, she could have it done again. It's more of a ten percent chance today that she's Kira, however. Although, with what's happened to Yagami-san… she mentioned that she knew he was on the team, and now he's had a heart attack. When he's better, Light Yagami will also join the investigation. However, she's making herself seem less suspicious by being overly suspicious."

"What exactly does that mean?" Aizawa asked.

L bit his thumbnail for a moment, staring at the blank television screens in front of him with a contemplative look etched onto his face. "I'm still trying to figure that out myself…

"She claims that she's also investigating the Kira case, but she doesn't know who Kira is yet, she just happened to stumble upon who is in this team while she was investigating. If anyone else has a heart attack, the possibility it is her will increase."

"That's not good…" Katherine said as she watched. "Yagami had a heart attack? Light wouldn't have done that just to make me seem like…? No, I don't think he'd have done that to his own father. Besides, they didn't say he's dead… maybe I should keep listening."

"Is chief still doing well?" Matsuda asked.

"Yes," L said. "That means it probably wasn't the work of Kira, unless he can manipulate circumstances. I think Yagami-san's heart attack may have been a complete coincidence."

Katherine breathed a great sigh of relief. "Good… I thought for sure they thought it was me…"

"On another note," L continued, "she wishes to join the investigation. I'm under the impression that she may have spies working for her, so she wouldn't be joining to get inside information. There is no way she could have found me without spies, and so she could just as easily use them to get inside information. She says that she has quite a few different theories on Kira, but she is still unsure of who he is."

"We'll need to check with chief on that one," Usata said. "If he doesn't trust her, then it's not any good."

"I know that," he said. "I'm not saying I don't. However, if she's working with us this close, her behavior will tell us whether or not she is a likely suspect to be Kira. She's been intelligent enough to outwit me up to this point, so she may be. It's hard to tell someone's personality when they're good at acting."

"She fits in the age range, though," Aizawa said. "That's something."

"If we're looking only at age range, then every high school and college student in Japan is a suspect," L said. "There's more to it than that. She seems less likely because she wouldn't have any connection to the FBI agents that were following the police, and they all still died. Then again, we still know nothing about her, so she may have a connection to them."

"So we'll tell the chief that we need to interrogate her, and if she has useful information, then we need her on the team?" Matsuda suggested.

"That seems like the only thing to do," L said.

Katherine picked up her cell phone from the coffee table in front of her. She also shut off the monitors. She lay back on the couch as she dialed the number, then held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Katherine said in response to Al's voice. "You guys got any news?"

"Nope," he said. "Not on the Kira case. But there's some interesting news for you."

"What?"

"You'll be happy to know you can work on this case without the fear of being killed. You don't have a legal identity, which means no name."

"You know this for a fact?"

"Yes," he said. "We're still working on getting your parents' names, but – what?"

"Huh?"

"Hold on a second, Don's yelling about something on the television – holy crap."

"What?"

"Switch on Sakura TV," he said. "You ought to find this interesting."

"Alright," she said. "Let me call you back then. You know I have a short attention span."

"Yeah," he said. "Bye."

"Bye."

She shut her cell phone and picked up the remote to another separate television set-up in the room. She turned on the middle one and changed the channel to Sakura TV, just in time to hear a sentence she wished she had never heard.

"We are certain that these tapes are truly sent from Kira."

Katherine's stomach dropped as she listened to the broadcast. The tapes were due to be aired at exactly 5:59. It was three minutes until that very time. Those three minutes dragged along, and she was sure that they would never end. She listened to the news anchor again describe the first tape they had watched. It had predicted the deaths of two criminals when they watched it, and the two criminals had died of heart attacks. If the same thing happened with these tapes, on live television… if this was Light Yagami, he was being extremely rash. There was no point in sending video tapes to television stations proving the existence of Kira when he was already known to have existed. If there was going to be more proof, it was doubtful that it was Light Yagami. That didn't seem to be his style. If it was someone else, she would be able to tell. If it was someone else, that would mean it was going to be someone else with a Death Note.

Katherine turned her surveillance back on as well. The investigation team was now also watching Sakura television. She was sure that Soichiro Yagami was watching it on his hospital television. Half of Japan was probably watching the broadcast. It was finally 5:59. The tape was put on the screen, reflecting the letters "KIRA" in a fancy, but sloppily drawn font on the television. She knew instantly that there was another Kira, if all of this was true…. This sloppy video definitely wasn't Kira's style; he would have used a much better means of broadcast if it had been him. No, there was another Kira… meaning there was another Shinigami following around another person who had picked up another Death Note in Japan. That definitely wasn't a pleasant thought to Katherine; she'd have to start from scratch now.


	4. Chapter 3: I Am Justice

"_I am Kira._"

Katherine stared at the letters on the screen as she listened intently to the broadcast. The voice had been distorted, but in an amateur manner. That definitely wasn't Kira's style. Nonetheless, she knew that this was going to be an important broadcast. It was too suspicious not to be.

"_If this tape was aired at exactly 5:59 p.m., then it should be 5:59:38 right now. At exactly six o' clock on Taiyou TV, the news anchor will die of heart failure._"

"So proof is the first thing you go for…"

Katherine turned on another of her televisions. She heard L tell someone to change the channel to Taiyou TV through the monitors, and tell Watari to move two more televisions into the room. Katherine changed the channel to Taiyou TV on her other television just as the news anchor was dying. She again listened to the screen with the word "Kira" printed across it.

"_That was punishment to him for always speaking out against me on TV._"

"Not Kira…" Katherine said, shaking her head. "Kira believes sacrifices are necessary, but not like this…"

"_I doubt one person is enough to prove my identity. Another commentator who speaks of me in contemptuous terms on a regular basis on the same channel will also die of heart failure._"

Katherine looked back at the other television, just as another anchor was having a heart attack. She heard speech from her monitors of the investigation team's headquarters, so she listened there.

"Kira is directly manipulating the public mind…" L was saying.

"You idiot, you can't possibly believe it's really Kira…" Katherine thought alloud.

"We need to stop this broadcast soon."

"What's the number for Sakura TV?" Matsuda asked, rushing over to the phone.

"_Please believe me when I say that I am Kira._"

"This is bad…" Katherine thought aloud, biting the side of her fist. "This is _really_ bad…"

"All the lines are busy…" Matsuda said from the monitors.

"Damn it! I'll go down there myself!"

"Usata, you freaking idiot," Katherine said, looking at the monitors as Usata was leaving the hotel room. "Whoever this is might have Shinigami eyes… it can't possibly be the real Kira…"

"_I do not mean to kill innocent people._"

"Bull shit!" Katherine yelled at the television, slamming her fist on the coffee table next to her.

"_I am a defender of justice and the enemy of evil. The police are not my enemy, and I do not have to be their enemy."_

"Son of a bitch…" Katherine said under her breath, shaking in anger. "If you do anything else, _I'll_ go to the station _myself_. I'd like to see you kill someone without a name."

"_I wish to create a peaceful world, one with no crime. If we all work together for this utopia, it won't be hard at all to achieve. As long as no one tries to oppose me, no one will have to die. I won't kill you as long as you don't make a stand against me in public, even if you do oppose me. It won't take too long for this world to become a paradise that could never otherwise be attainable._ _The world will be full of only those with good conscience. Take a moment and imagine a world with no evil. Imagine if the police would work together with the God of the New World to achieve such justice._"

"Everyone please remain calm." This was coming from the other television. Katherine switched focus here. "We will soon have more details of the tapes being broadcast at Sakura TV. We are now live at the entrance of Sakura TV. There is someone lying in front of the front door. This is a live feed from in front of the station."

"No!" Katherine yelled. "Damn it…"

The person lying in front of the station was easily recognizable as Usata.

"Aizawa-san, stop," Katherine heard from the monitors. She turned to them. "If you go now, you'll die too."

"What are you talking about? Do you expect me to sit and stare at the TV and do nothing?"

Katherine shut off her monitors and the televisions. If no one else could go, then she was going to.

* * *

"I'm telling you to calm down," L said to Aizawa. "I want to stop the broadcast now, too. If we can retrieve those tapes, we could get crucial evidence on the Kira case. However, if Usata-san was killed, then anyone else who goes now will suffer the same fate."

"Does that mean the fake badges you issued us are useless now?" Matsuda asked. "Did our names leak out?"

"If they had, we should all be dead," L said. "That can't be it. I thought Kira needed both a name and a face to kill, but after seeing this, it might be possible that he doesn't…. He might be able to use the face alone. He was able to kill Usata-san, so he could kill any one of us. It is possible that Kira is near that building. He could also have spy cameras set up to keep surveillance of whoever is there."

"Well, if we know he's there, we should go arrest them!" Aizawa said.

"I told you, if we go now, we'll be killed. Please try to understand."

"I can't. Usata _died_! You said you'd risk your life to arrest Kira."

"Risking my life and throwing it away are two very different things. Yes, Usata is dead. We couldn't afford to loose anyone before that, and now if we loose anyone else –"

"Live from the entrance of Sakura TV! A car has just parked around the side and – it appears someone else is approaching the entrance!"

The three of them looked at the television broadcasting the entrance of Sakura TV as it zoomed in on someone standing in front of the glass front of the building. Usata had already been taken away by the ambulance. The person standing there was Katherine Lynton. Did that mean it was her…?

"Open up, now!" she yelled, slamming her fist on the door. "_Now_, do you hear me!"

"Why isn't she getting killed?" Matsuda said.

That _was_ strange. This made her a much more likely suspect. If she was Kira, though… shouldn't he, L, be dead by now? It seemed that Kira could kill with only a face now, and she claimed she knew that he was L. So that made her a less likely suspect. She hit the front entrance again, and he suddenly remembered something she'd said. _"Luckily for me, I'm practically Kira proof. He can't kill without a name. So he can't kill someone who doesn't have a name."_ Maybe Kira could _see_ people's names…. That was completely ridiculous, but so was the entire case so far. People dropping dead of heart attacks at every turn…. What murderer, if not one with Godlike powers, could do that? Even bogus theories could be acceptable at the point they had reached in the investigation.

"Let me _in_, Goddammit! Tell them to stop playing the tapes! Don't you get that innocent lives are at stake here! You idiots! You're just doing this for ratings!"

She hit the glass one last time before turning around to look at the camera that had zoomed in on the entrance where she was. She spoke to the camera loudly.

"If you're watching, we need the police here, _now_, and make sure you keep your faces covered! And Kira. If _you're_ watching, let it be known – I _will_ be the end of you. You won't get away with killing innocent people. You _can't_ kill _me_. You need to know someone's name to kill. I don't know what you're doing right now, but apparently you still need the name, or I wouldn't still be standing here. You can't kill someone without a name. You're a coldblooded murderer who _will_ be _**stopped**_! I've publicly spoken against you, and I'm still standing here alive. I'll find you, and I will turn you in to be judged and executed like you've done to so many others. I'm not afraid of you. Millions of others may be, but if one person isn't, then you're going to come crashing down. I vow to be your downfall, Kira. _I_ am justice."

Katherine walked away from the front of the station, the camera zooming out as she moved to her car. Aizawa and Matsuda were both gaping at the screen.

"Why the hell isn't she dead?" Aizawa asked L, pointing at the television set. "What the hell is she talking about, everyone has a name, how is she… what the hell!"

"Actually, it's possible she might not," L said. "Take every possibility into consideration. Say she was born outside of a hospital and her name was never put on file. Then she practically wouldn't exist, and wouldn't have a name."

"But if… you said that Kira might not need names!"

"I think," he said slowly, "she has some idea of how Kira kills. Something we don't know about. This move is either a bold one made out of knowledge about Kira, or a very stupid one that turned out lucky."

"How could she know how Kira kills??" Matsuda asked. "Shouldn't we question her?"

"That's impossible as of right now. At least she gave the police orders to cover their faces, that's definitely – what now?"

"It appears there is a truck heading straight for the Sakura TV station!" said the announcer for Channel 24, just as Katherine's car was pulling away from the station. It stopped; she was apparently watching the truck as well. "Is it going to crash through? There it goes!"

"It's an armored truck..." Aizawa said. "From the police station…"

The Kira tape was just finishing. "_Police, please give me a response to my request on April 22. I will respond on the same day at 6:10 to your answer. Thank you._"

"Is he on our side…?" Matsuda asked uncertainly, watching the truck. It was inside the station.

"I don't know…" Aizawa said. "It _is_ a police vehicle, but…"

"There are police cars showing up, too," Matsuda said. "Only one, though…?"

The police got out of the car and started to approach the building, but collapsed immediately. Their faces were uncovered completely.

"Aizawa-san," L said, watching the screen. "Do you know Vice-Director Kitamura's phone number?"

"Yes."

"Call him and hand me the phone as soon as he answers." L held out his hand without looking away from the television. After a moment, Aizawa handed him the phone. He held it to his ear.

"This is Kitamura. I told you not to call me, Aizawa."

"This is L." There was a silence on the other line. L continued. "I have a request. There is someone on the police force that has acted of their own will. The situation could become dangerous if it isn't handled."

"But… given the situation…" There was another momentary pause. There was a sigh. "Fine. I understand. Please tell me what to do."

"Send police there so that they will not be seen."

"The girl that showed up at the Sakura TV station – is she working with you?"

"No," he said, "but we plan to question her soon."

Watari's cell phone rang. He checked the front screen and spoke to L. "It is Yagami-san," he informed him.

"Please carry that out, vice-director," L said. "Do not hang up, hold on for a moment."

He took the other phone from Watari and flipped it open.

"This is Asahi," Yagami said.

"So you were the one in the armored car?"

"Yes," he said. "I couldn't stand watching the broadcast. I've retrieved the tapes, I'll bring them to you immediately, I only need to know where you are."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. More importantly, how should I leave? The front entrance is dangerous, would it be safe to use the armored car again?"

"Please wait a minute." L switched back to the other phone. "Vice-director, the one who broke into the television station is Director Yagami."

"Yagami? I thought he was in the hospital! … L, tell Yagami it won't be any more than five minutes!"

That line went blank. L handed the phone back to Aizawa and spoke to Yagami again.

"Yagami-san, rest for five minutes and then head out the front entrance."

"The front…?"

They watched on the television screen for any sign of reinforcements from the police. Katherine was still sitting in her car, waiting to see if the police would take her initial warning and send reinforcements in with their faces fully covered. The first car obviously hadn't listened. Whoever was in the armored car definitely knew what was going on. It wasn't more than five minutes later that a barrage of police cars was rushing to the scene, creating a barricade from the cameras. Katherine watched as they also blocked her car in.

"Damn…" she said under her breath. "Wonder how I'm supposed to get out of this mess…"

She heard commands being issued from the police.

"Alright! Do not reveal yourselves! Kira is not inside the TV station, he is watching from the outside!"

She looked over to the side and saw a single police car sitting there. It was Soichiro Yagami who exited from the Sakura TV building. She was fairly sure he was supposed to be in the hospital… that was a little strange. Surely L hadn't sent him? She decided the only way to find out would be to follow. It might not have been the best of choices… but it was the only way she knew she could know.

Katherine pulled out of the lot quickly after Yagami took the police car and left. He looked in his rearview mirror and noticed he was being followed fairly quickly. He swore under his breath and picked up his cell phone to dial Watari's number. L answered after a few rings.

"What is it?"

"I'm being followed."

"By who?"

"I have no idea. Looks like an old American-made car. It was parked around the side of Sakura TV."

"Let it follow," he said.

"If it's Kira, then –"

"It isn't Kira, but it is someone we need to question. I believe she may have information we need. She's most likely following you because she knows you're working on the Kira case."

"I thought you said no one knew!"

"I didn't _think_ anyone knew. By now, she most likely knows all of our names and our aliases."

"Who is it?"

"The second Kira suspect –"

"_What_?"

"– who has been absolved of all suspicion. I'll explain more when you get here."

"Alright, fine. I'm almost at the hotel."

Yagami pulled into the hotel parking lot, and the other car followed him into the lot. It parked directly in front of the police car he'd taken. Katherine got out of her car with a shoulder strap bag hanging off of her shoulder. She held her arms up as Yagami got out of the car.

"I haven't got any weapons," she said. "I'm not out to hurt anyone or make threats. I'm not Kira. I need to talk to the team."

"The team?"

"The Kira investigation team. I know who you are. I've been investigating the Kira case and I have some important information on what happened at Sakura TV if the team hasn't already figured it out, and I know things about Kira that the team either doesn't know or isn't sure about."

"How?"

"Extensive research. I'm surprised you didn't take a long route here and attempt to loose me along the way here. Were you given orders not to?"

"Y-yes. How'd you –"

"Lucky guess," she said, walking towards the hotel. "Watari is probably waiting, you should hurry up."

_How does she know so much about the team?_ he wondered. _And she shouldn't know about Watari unless she has a connection with L or the police…. She couldn't possibly have a connection with L, and I know she doesn't within the police, which means…_

"You have spies, don't you?" Yagami asked her, also walking towards the hotel.

"Correct," she said. "With a good bit of acting, I found out you were the head of the Kira case last year from the police station. I had one of my spies tail you for a day, and we discovered Watari, who led us straight to L."

"How many people are you working with?"

"Only three besides myself. They're good friends of mine, the only people I trust and the only people who really know anything about me. I may be forced to give some information of my background by the team if I'm going to be helping out… but to get rid of Kira, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." She walked in the front doors of the hotel. "Watari," she said, nodding her head. "Nice to meet you. Room 316, isn't it?"


	5. Chapter 4: Claustrophobia

"Explain."

"Explain what?"

"Everything."

"That's not very helpful, I'm going to need some examp–"

"Well," Yagami said, "then to start: first of all, how were you not killed by Kira?"

"You'd have to ask Kira that," Katherine said with a laugh.

"You said you knew about Kira."

Katherine sighed and looked around at the investigation team. With the way she was being interrogated, her extreme case of claustrophobia was kicking in, even in that large hotel room. She felt like a criminal, like the walls were closing in around her. It unnerved her worse than a lot of things ever had. She couldn't blurt out that she knew who Kira was, not in front of Yagami. He was Light's father, after all. That would probably make him a little anger. Right now, her main goal was gaining their trust. She knew that was going to be a hard task, and they weren't making it any easier….

"I _do_ know about Kira. I can confirm that he has to know names to kill for all of you. I can't tell you how I know until you trust me."

"But if Kira needs names, explain why he was able to kill Usata," Matsuda said. "Did Kira know his name or our names?"

"It's doubtful. If he did, you'd all be dead. No… I don't think this was the Kira we know."

"Why is that?" Yagami asked.

"If this was the Kira we know, then he wouldn't have been able to kill Usata unless he was connected directly to the police, which is unlikely. Not highly unlikely, but it's still unlikely. If my people could get into the police station, then Kira could probably find a way to."

"More importantly," Aizawa said, "why the hell aren't you dead?"

"Kira needs a name to kill," she said. "If Kira didn't need a name to kill, then I _would_ be dead. I don't make rash decisions. I take actions that people believe are rash to confuse them."

"What's the point in that?"

"It got me this far, didn't it? I think it's a pretty good method."

"Alright," Yagami said. "Why do you believe this isn't Kira? Surely only Kira can predict death as the tapes did."

"Not necessarily. This Kira didn't need to know names, for one thing."

"Then why aren't you –" Matsuda started.

"Let me finish," she said. "This Kira didn't need names because I believe he can see names by seeing people."

"That's ridiculous," Aizawa said.

"Aizawa-san," she said seriously. "Look back at this entire case. Name one thing about it that makes any kind of sense. Just one thing. When's the last time that anyone you know on the police force dealt with a murderer who killed people by giving them heart attacks? You've got to figure, it's unnatural. If Kira can kill people with heart attacks, he has to have some pretty strange power. So, how unlikely is _anything_ at this point?"

"She has a point," Matsuda agreed. "If Kira can kill people he's probably never even come into contact with by means of heart attack, then how unlikely is it that someone could also have a power to see peoples' names?"

"Yeah…" Aizawa said. "That makes it a lot harder to work publicly on the case, though."

"Then let me in on it," she said. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Hold on for a moment," Yagami said. "You may be alive because you _are_ Kira."

"If I were Kira, you'd be dead. Your name is Soichiro Yagami. You're the head investigator of the Kira case. I know your name, I know your face, and I know you're hunting Kira. And yet here you sit, one hundred percent not dead."

"He had a heart attack!" Aizawa said furiously.

"Look back at the Kira victims," Katherine said. "They all had a heart attack and died on the spot. That means that if he's still alive, then I'm not Kira."

"There is a theory that Kira can manipulate death," L said.

"Which is also a true theory," Katherine said. "I was tailing Kira the day he killed Raye Penber. He had his face covered, so I have no idea who it was. He was right on the train with Penber when it happened. They were speaking through transmitters so Kira could keep a safe distance. He didn't know my name and he didn't notice me, so I was safe. The envelope he walked on to the train with and exited without – that envelope had the transmitter in it. Kira had already taken it off of the train, he did that as soon as he got the chance."

"How do you know it was Kira??" Matsuda said.

"Aside from the fact that it was the middle of summer and he was wearing winter clothes to hide what he looked like, he walked right behind Penber and told him who he was, and handed him the envelope."

"How does this prove that Kira can manipulate death, exactly?" L asked.

"This is just my theory, but I believe it to be an accurate one. I'll even back it with facts. On top of tailing Kira, I was keeping track of what the FBI agents were up to."

"How did you know about the FBI agents?" Yagami asked. "The police didn't even know."

"My spies were tailing Watari, I already said that. And I apologize for taking such measures, but it's how I work. It's fast, it's effective, and it works.

"As I was saying, I was keeping track of the agents. I found something rather odd about Penber when one day, he canceled his plans with his fiancé, Naomi Misora, to meet her parents. That was why she had come with him to Japan, so he could meet her parents. He canceled the plans saying that he had to work that day. He'd been looking forward to meeting them. When he canceled, he didn't seem frantic or overly upset about it. It was just a thing. So he headed for the train station. I headed for the train station as well. I got there in time to see Kira walk behind Raye Penber and tell him to follow his orders. How would Kira had known that Raye Penber would be at the train station that day if he hadn't manipulate Penber into going there? I doubt Kira spies at all, because he doesn't need to. If he needs to know something, he'll just manipulate someone into giving them the answers, then kill them.

"However, I believe that in order for Kira to manipulate someone, he has to kill them after. I think that's a part of his power. I also think I know how he killed Naomi Misora."

"If he killed Naomi Misora, you mean?" Yagami said. "There's no proof she's dead."

"There could be," she said. "I saw her talking to someone one day – I was keeping my distance, so I didn't see who it was, but I could hear them talking. They were discussing Kira, and all of a sudden, she said she had to go. No reason, but she just took off and left. I believe Kira made her leave and go somewhere that only she knew about to die."

"Then how will we find her to prove it?" Aizawa asked.

"Talk to her parents. Ask them if she had anywhere she ever liked to hide out at, somewhere that only she – and possibly her close family – would know about. We'll tell them that we're under the impression that she may have acted rashly out of remorse from the death of her fiancé. They'll tell us just to get some closure about their daughter. If she did kill herself, I believe it proves that Kira can kill people in ways other than heart attacks. From what I know about Naomi Misora, she would have gone after Kira. She wouldn't have drowned in sorrow and mourning, she would have taken action. I believe she found out too much about Kira, and he killed her. She was an exceptional FBI agent for three years, after all. Surely, there's a possibility she could have found something we all may have missed."

"Hey, out of curiosity," Matsuda said, "have you _only_ been using spies to get our information?"

"Well," she said with a laugh, "indirectly, yes. In the sense that they set up all the cameras and mikes."

"And you expect us to trust you after that?" Yagami said.

"Well, maybe not trust me," she said, "but accept that I would be the best possible option to capture Kira personally."

"How so?"

"Because I have no name," she said. "My parents never bothered giving me one before they chucked me on someone else's doorstep, who then threw me in an orphanage that was too lazy to ever fill out papers about me. By law, I shouldn't even be sitting here because I don't exist. And don't pity me because I'm an orphan," she added. "That just gets annoying."

"What kind of people are your spies?" Yagami asked.

She grinned. "Con artists and suspected murders."

Yagami, Aizawa, and Matsuda all gaped at her, and she couldn't help but laugh a little. L didn't look overly surprised.

"Trust me even less now, don't you?" she said, smiling. "I can understand that. I've been friends with them for years, they helped break me out of that little godforsaken orphanage that I had to live in. I have no identity, they're con artists. Now, I have a fake identity. According to it, my name is Regina M. Locksley. Regina M. Locksley doesn't exist either, but eh." She shrugged. "It got me a house and a drivers' license."

"Y… you _do_ realize you're talking to police, right?" Aizawa said.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm talking to police who want to bring Kira down just as badly as I do."

"How come you're using two different aliases?" Matsuda asked. "Wouldn't just one be easier?"

"Yes," she said. "However, once Kira discovers what I'm doing, it'll keep him running in circles for a while. I can be traced back to about ten different fake names through the internet that have no link whatsoever to the orphanage I lived in. Keeping him running in circles will keep him busy while I figure out exactly who he is."

"Let me ask again," Yagami said. "Why is it you believe there is a second Kira? Isn't it possible the real Kira has been hiding the ability to 'see names' from us just to throw us off?"

"Yes," she said slowly. "However, the Kira I know wouldn't directly threaten the police or kill a news anchor for badmouthing him. This Kira behaves differently. They seem to have a much lower IQ and should be easily traced."

"If this is true," L said, "that means Kira's probably very angry."

"Maybe not." The team looked surprised at the direct contraction to L, who they'd all been completely intent on following since day one. L looked more intrigued. "Obviously, this person supports the real Kira. This person has a power that Kira has. They probably made the video hoping that the real Kira might respond. If that is the case, then Kira probably won't respond, but will find this person, use them to get L's name, and then kill them so that they won't be able to blurt out who Kira really is."

The other three looked at L, who nodded. "That makes sense. They probably idolize Kira. There are a lot of people who do now. If they managed to somehow develop the same ability Kira has, then they would do this to get Kira's attention. Surely, saying 'I am Kira,' would get his attention more than saying, 'I idolize Kira.' There are thousands of people who idolize Kira, and hundreds who think they're Kira, but supposedly only one that can prove it. If Kira sees something like this on television, then he'd want to know more."

"Exactly," Katherine said. She looked at the team. "What're you looking at me like that for?"

"Did… wait, I'm confused here," Matsuda said. "So this Kira is another Kira?"

"Who admires Kira," Katherine said.

"How many Kiras _are_ there?"

"As of right now, you mean?" she said. "Two."

"So, this Kira admires the original Kira, and has some kind of power the old Kira doesn't have?"

"Right."

"Would this Kira really be dumb enough to let the old Kira use him?"

"Considering the tapes… I'd say there's about a 70 chance that he is. Either that or he's using my method: being so smart that he's making us think he's extremely dumb. That's a great method to use, by the way," she added. "Then, no one expects you to really be able to do anything until you do. It's what I'm planning to do when I figure out who Kira is to get him to admit it."

"Isn't that dangerous…?" Aizawa said.

"For anyone else in this room, yes."

"Right, right," he said. "No name."

"Can we take a vote on whether or not I'm Kira yet?" Katherine yawned. "I'm starting to get bored with all the questions. I want to actually start coming up with plans on how to find this Kira."

"Well, I still don't trust you," Aizawa said, "but if you're not Kira, then we need someone else who's actually smart enough to figure this out…"

"I don't think so," Matsuda said. "If she were Kira, then she just gave us enough information on her to prosecute her now."

"Which you couldn't do without physical evidence," Katherine said. "So I could be Kira tricking you into believing I'm not Kira by telling you everything about Kira."

"Well, I still don't think so, but there probably will be newspapers all over saying you're L now."

Katherine laughed. "That ought to be pretty amusing. It will probably confuse Kira, too, which isn't something I was going for, but it'll make him try to figure out who I am and start going in circles really early."

"I doubt she's Kira," Yagami said. "You have proof of when you moved to Japan, correct?"

"Yes. I can even go home and get it."

"You said you didn't move to Japan until after the Kira rumors started spreading."

"It intrigued me," she said. "I had just decided to learn Japanese as a second language a few years before. I had learned it by then, and I figured, 'What the hell. This looks pretty interesting.' So, I moved."

"Then you have proof that you wouldn't have been in Japan the night that Lind. L. Taylor was killed."

"Yep. Very logical thinking," she added. "But remember, when it comes to Kira, we all need to think outside the box. Perhaps Kira has psychokinetic abilities that would allow him to pick up TV stations on the back of his eyelids. I think that's going a little far, though. So I'm probably not Kira. I know I've never wished that any FBI agents would die, so I don't think I'm Kira."

"My suspicions are at about three percent," L said. "You can work with us, but you may occasionally be interrogated."

"Alright," she said. "I can deal with that. Now, let's start the real meeting. First, I think we need to watch the rest of the Kira tapes."

"Definitely," L agreed. "But the copies to begin with. We'll need the originals analyzed for anything that could identify a suspect."

"I specialize in forensics, I can do that," Aizawa said.

"Let me know if you find any of my fingerprints on there," she said. "If I telekinetically sent them in the mail, then I'd really like to know."

"Could you possibly take this any less seriously?" Aizawa asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I could; I could be one of the Kira devotee retards who think that it's all goody-gumdrops that Kira is killing people. However, as my friend is accused of murder, the police could spot him at any time and have his real name and picture put up on a news station, and then Kira could kill him. I'd despise Kira anyway, but as one of my only good friends is currently in direct danger…"

"Only 'accused?'" Aizawa said. "How do you know –"

"Because I know who really did the killing and exactly how they framed my friend," she said shortly. "And I think I know my own friends better than you know them. Don't ask me any more questions about it."

"On another subject," Yagami cut in, "the tapes?"

"Right," Aizawa said, taking the bag with the original copies.

* * *

The tapes were fairly interesting. They were set up so if the cops agreed, then Sakura TV would have to play one on the date specified, and they would have to play the other on the date specified if the cops refused. If the cops agreed, then L would have to make an appearance on TV to announce that they would cooperate with Kira. If they refused, then they would either have to offer up the director's life or L's as a sacrifice for their lack of cooperation. If they failed to offer anyone, then Kira threatened to kill a number of representatives from various police agencies around the world.

L had watched all of the tapes. The other four only watched the "I am regretful that you will not work with me," tape – the tape that Sakura TV would definitely be playing in four days. Katherine was thinking of a plan that she was sure would work the entire time she was watching it. It seemed full proof to her. If she went on TV as L, she was a very convincing actress. However, if the new Kira did choose not to believe her anyway, many innocent people would loose their lives. That was a chance Katherine _didn't_ want to take. It was risky… but if this person was looking for cooperation from the real Kira, then there was every possibility that they could send in a fake tape claiming to be Kira. That was a thought.

If L had agreed to let Light into the case, then that would definitely be a good way to unnerve him, the person she knew without a doubt to be the original Kira; to have him be the one to make the fake tape. It would not only make the impersonator cooperate, but it would make the real Kira nervous. She decided not to propose the idea until Yagami talked with the ICPD after the official broadcast of the tape. Proposing ideas before they were needed wasn't her preferred method. She'd only speak if no one else came up with anything better.


	6. Chapter 5: Caffeine

"_If I have determined the L you have given me to be a fake, I remind you that I will use a number of policemen around the world as compensation."_

"Ha!"

Light had heard the broadcast from the news as he was looking through pages of criminals on his father's computer. For him, it was really amusing. He definitely hadn't sent the tapes, which could only mean that someone else had a Death Note – someone who supported him. They also had Shinigami eyes. They also seemed as though they could be easily manipulated.

"_So, in four days,_" the fake Kira's distorted electronic voice continued from his television, _"either L or the Head of the Police Department of Japan must be brought forth as a sacrifice for your lack of cooperation._"

"You know, Ryuk," Light said, turning the computer chair he was sitting in around. "This looks like the work of another Shinigami."

"It would seem so," Ryuk said with a laugh.

"It seems that the Gods are on my side after all. Whoever this Shinigami is following is supportive of Kira. They're also a more powerful killer than me. It looks like they've made the eyes deal with their Shinigami.

"It's funny. We're probably the only ones that know this Kira is a fake. The question is, is this guy fully on my side? I'd have to know what his views on a reformation are to trust him. I'll still use this to my advantage. I can use him to get L's real name. I can also use him to prove that I'm not Kira. What he's doing still isn't good for my reputation, though… he's using innocent people for sacrifices to prove tha he's Kira, which could turn the public against me. After this, L will be even more obsessed with investigating."

"_Hey_," Ryuk said. "_What are you gonna do about that girl?_"

"Oh, right," Light said, sitting back. "If she really doesn't have a name, is there any way to kill her?"

"_I don't know. I'm a Shinigami. If it were me, I'd just find someone else to kill._"

"You're not helping at all…"

"_I told you, I'm not __**on**__ anyone's side,_" Ryuk said, laughing.

"I'll have to find something to do with her. Maybe I can manipulate someone else into killing her with the note… figure out who she knows and have someone close to her do it. It would be hard to do, but I think the Death Note can do anything if you word everything right. So even if I kill L, she's going to be a problem. I don't know anything about her. She did get perfect scores on the entrance exams…. There's no point in writing down the name she's been using, it's obviously fake."

"_If you want to see if she has a name, you can still trade for Shinigami eyes._"

"She obviously doesn't," Light said, shaking his head. "I can't even tell how much of a nuisance she'll be right now. I don't know if the rashness up to this point is genuine stupidity or part of a plan. She's too good at acting. If she's on L's side, that's going to be a real problem for me. Not only because I don't know anything about her, but also because she can see you. That means she knows about Shinigami, and if she knows about them, she knows about Death Notes, which means she also knows I have one. Do you have any idea who she is?"

"_Nope._"

"You said that in order for someone to see a Shinigami, they have to have touched that Shinigami's Death Note at one point in time, right?"

"_Yeah_."

"So how can she see _you_?"

"_I don't know._"

"Do you know _anything?_

"It looks like I'll have to find out. It could even turn out that she's the second Kira… but if that's true, then the investigation team would probably be dead, because she said she knows who everyone is. She could have been bluffing, but that seems unlikely. She acts ignorant but speaks intelligently. More importantly, if she's working with L and she knows about Death Notes… she might have one herself, which could be used to prove my methods. Even if she doesn't, then I still have to get to the second Kira. If L finds _him_ and discovers the existence of Death Notes, then that could be a real problem. I think the best thing to do is to join the investigation team. L didn't object to it, and Dad should be out of the hospital in a few days, so I'm almost in. If I join the investigation team, I could come into contact with the fake Kira. I think the best action would be for me to contact and control the fake Kira without letting him see my face, then kill him before he can tell the team anything about me."

* * *

Two days after the police's answer to "Kira," Katherine sat in the room with the investigation team, waiting for Yagami to return with the news from the ICPD. She still hadn't presented any of her ideas, even though she was bursting to. She had already deducted at least four years from her own life for the team; she had made sure to use her Death Note to prevent Yagami, Matsuda, Aizawa, and Mogi (though she still wasn't sure why he wasn't there and the team wasn't giving her any answers) from being killed by a Death Note with her note's special rule. She wasn't sure how much time she had left in her own life now, but she knew that it made the rest of the team Kira-proof… all except L. That was a problem. She supposed she might be smart enough to trick him into giving her his real name eventually, which would make the entire team resistant to Kira.

She opened another soda can; she was on her fifth soda that morning alone. She had stockpiled them in her shoulder-strap bag, which she had gotten into a habit of carrying everywhere. Caffeine had become something she needed terribly. She believed it had to be better than cigarettes, a habit she had finally managed to kick a year ago. However, the Kira case was starting to make her want them again….

After a couple hours of waiting, the lock on the door finally clicked. They all turned their heads to look as Yagami was walking through the door. No matter what the decision was, it had been expected that there would be a grim feeling of hopelessness in the room upon his return. He sighed.

"It is as you predicted, Ryuzaki," he said to L, nodding his head. "The ICPD all agreed that they want you to appear on TV, in person. No tricks. They aren't even trying to bring up any good counter strategies. They're being pulled around by Kira."

L took a sip of coffee. "They made a logical choice. The police won't ever cooperate with Kira, and it's plausible that they'd choose me over the chief of police, as I was the one who taunted Kira in the first place. They made the correct decision."

"But then L – Ryuzaki, I mean," Matsuda said. "You might…"

"No, even if I show myself on TV, Kira still knows nothing about me, so he might not even believe I'm L."

"Hey, that's right!" Aizawa said.

"That wouldn't be good, though…" Katherine said.

"No, because then a large number of police officers in the world would be killed for compensation," L agreed. "So I'll try to convince him. It would be hard to prove that I'm L in a way that Kira would believe me, though. We still have two days left to come up with a counter measure. Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't have a death wish. Besides, I'd rather die by Kira's hand than by that of an impersonator. The chance that it's an impersonator is a little higher. One of the criminals killed from the first tape that only the news team watched was a small criminal, only convicted for drug use. Not one of Kira's regular victims. Besides which, this one's name was only released in a women's magazine.

"So conclusively, unless Kira is going a little queer on us, that's really not his style," Katherine said, crushing an empty soda can in her hand and setting it on the table. "And the other one was only shown on a talk show. Kira seems to get most of his victims from the news. Then you take into consideration that Kira wouldn't kill newscasters just for criticizing him, not even to prove who he is. When I saw him with Raye Penber, he did use a method of proof."

"Why did you fail to mention that earlier?" Aizawa asked suspiciously.

"No one asked," she said with a shrug. "As I was saying: he killed a man just coming out of a coffee shop. However, this man had been a suspect in a string of rapes the year earlier, but was never convicted."

"Did you see how he did he killed –?" Matsuda started.

"Odds are, he had already planned the killing for that time," Katherine said. "So no. As we all know by now, he can set the times of his killings, so that's probably what he did there. I doubt he would risk actually killing in public."

"Yeah…"

"It'd be kind of a pity if he really only kills with psychic powers," she said. "If that's so, we'll never be able to catch him, as it wouldn't leave behind any physical evidence.

"Now, as I was saying. Kira has proved he's Kira before in front of a person, but he didn't go about it like the person who sent in the tapes. The person who sent in the tapes is so devoted to Kira that he would kill anyone who opposes his idol. I imagine Kira might be a little peeved at him for it, as a lot people will believe it to be Kira and that does tarnish his reputation with all the others that idolize him, but he probably will see this person as a useful ally. Now, the quality of the videos is a big thing, too."

"How is that?" Yagami asked.

"It's very poor," L said. "The words were badly drawn. The sound wasn't blurred well; it sounded like it was recorded with a microphone on a small camera. The real Kira would have gone for better quality. Also, killing innocent policemen in front of the public eye – he would know that this would cause people to dislike him even more. This Kira didn't care. The real Kira wouldn't use scare tactics that may as well be labeled as terrorism."

"It's also unlikely Kira would ever leave fingerprints behind," Aizawa said.

"Fingerprints?" Yagami said.

"We found a set of fingerprints on the envelope that the tapes were sent in that don't belong to anyone who work in the TV station." Aizawa picked up a small envelope from the coffee table with a small piece of the envelope, showing a fingerprint on it.

"I don't think the real Kira would ever leave behind fingerprints," Matsuda said.

"Maybe he was trying to frame someone else?" Aizawa suggested.

"It's more likely they belong to a second Kira," L said. "The real Kira would have no reason to frame anyone right now, and probably wouldn't want to. If this second Kira exists, his intellectual level is probably far lower than the real Kira's. He may not have even considered that the tapes might be confiscated by the police. By the way…" L said, picking up the small envelope with the envelope paper. He held it up and examined it. "This fingerprint is small. It could be from a child or a woman."

Katherine froze as everyone but L immediately looked at her. She looked at the other three. Now they _really _suspected her. She unfroze and shook her head.

"Alright, alright," she said impatiently. "Do you seriously think I'd be dumb enough to leave fingerprints behind if it were me? You can search my house; you'll find a box of latex gloves in one of my kitchen drawers. If I'm ever doing undercover work or if I have to examine evidence of anything –"

"Evidence of what?" Yagami asked.

"The Kira case!" she said. "I already said I'm doing an investigation! If you'd listen, I have a couple ideas of how we might be able to thwart this Kira's attempts."

"That fast?" Matsuda said. "Really? How?"

"Well, first off. We're in a war right now. We're not in an investigation, this is war. And this here is a battle between us and Kira to find the second Kira before the other. In the process, we may catch the real Kira. Now obviously, the second Kira has got to be completely confused…"

Katherine picked up her bag and opened it. She fumbled though the bags of assorted junk foods, bottles of water, and soda cans, looking intently for something. _I really need to clean this thing out…_ she thought to herself as she pulled a few newspapers out from underneath everything else in the bag. _It's so hard to find anything in there… hope I can find my car keys when I go to leave… oooh, how did __**that**__ get in there…? That's supposed to be under that floorboard under my bed…._ She didn't remember doing it, but she had apparently shoved her Death Note in the bag. Her heart pounded for a moment as she pushed it further down inside the bag. She remembered now; she had decided to start carrying it with her in case the team was down to no further options for catching Kira. She could show them all the Death Note, and if they touched it, they'd be able to see the Shinigami flying around behind Light all the time. It was only a last resort, though; she was only planning on using it if she had to.

She laid the newspapers down on the table, spreading them out, all revealing basically the same headline; there were things like "_L Makes a Public Stand," _and "_L Unmasked?_" They all had her picture from the other night in front of the Sakura TV station. She picked up one and held it up.

"Kira may even be under the same impression as the media right now, for all we know. Or at least the new Kira might," she said, indicating the headline on that paper. She set it back down on the table and continued. "So, it's possible that the second Kira believes that I'm L. If we consider how stupid he is up to this point, he might believe it. My best quality as an investigator is my knack for good acting. The people in this team are the only people who know the true identity of L, so no one would know if we set it up for me to appear on television as L at the specified date. However, that idea wouldn't be so good. As Kira can't kill me, so it seems, it'd fall through and he'd just go off and kill loads of police officers. That was my first idea. It's not great.

"Now, my second idea is that we send in our _own_ fake Kira tape, but _as_ the real Kira, telling the fake Kira to cut the crap."

"If we word it differently, that's definitely a good counter," L said, biting his thumbnail. "Yagami-san. Is it possible to ask your son to help us whenever he can?"

"Does that mean he is free of suspicion?"

"No, not yet. But his profiling ability could serve to be very helpful. He could be a great help in capturing the second Kira."

There was silence in the room for a moment. Yagami then nodded.

"If you want my son to 'help,' then I won't object."

"Good. Please keep our suspicions of a second Kira from him. Act like we think there is still only one."

"Wouldn't that make it hard for him to work with us?" Matsuda said.

"We'll have him watch the tapes," L said, "and then ask for his opinion. Light's investigative skills are top-notch. He will probably suspect there is a second Kira after seeing them all. I want to hear what he thinks about them."

"And," Katherine said slowly, "if he says that there may be a second Kira, he should be cleared of all suspicion."

"Right," L said.

"What?" Yagami said, surprised. "How so?"

"Think about it for a minute," Katherine said. "What does Kira want more than anything right now? Besides a crime-free world, of course." They were all silent. Katherine rolled her eyes. "What in the world are you people required to even do for the police? He wants L dead. So, if he were Kira, then he wouldn't want to do anything to stop L from being put on TV, would he? So, he wouldn't suggest the possibility of a second Kira when he could simply sit back and watch his pursuer die without having to lift a finger. So, if we ask him to help us make the fake video and he agrees, then he's either not Kira or he's giving up this chance so he won't be suspected of being Kira. However, if he refuses, then he will be further suspected as Kira."

The room was silent for a moment again. Katherine wondered if they didn't comprehend the plan, or if they were seeing if there were any holes in the idea. She herself hadn't found any when she'd been coming up with the idea, but she supposed there was a possibility that they might be able to.

"Th… that sounds complicated…" Matsuda said uncertainly after a few minutes scratching the back of his head in confusion.

"So basically, if my son doesn't come to the same conclusion as you, he's further suspected as being Kira?" Yagami said.

"Isn't that a little biased?" Aizawa said.

"The chance he won't agree is smaller than five percent," L said. "However, even if he doesn't suspect it, we'll still ask him to help. He'll be a bigger suspect if he refuses.

"On another subject. When in public, be sure to use the names on your fake badges to address each other by. Also, Watari," he said, looking at the computer set up next to him with a microphone by it, "stay outside and speak with me using only the comm link."

"Understood, Ryuzaki," the computer said back.

"If Light agrees," L said to Yagami, "then tell him to come here right away to help us."

"Understood," Yagami said, taking out his cell phone.


	7. Chapter 6: Downfall

It had been two days since the second broadcast of a message from "Kira." Light Yagami was sitting at the computer desk in his room and reading a newspaper article. It was one of the many about that strange girl, Katherine Lynton, who claimed to have no name. Of course, the newspaper writers had no idea who she was. They claimed that she was L. She _had_ used his most famed line durring her public stand against Kira: "I am justice." Maybe she was only using it for the sake of unnerving Kira. Something _needed_ to be done about her.

There was a possibility that she could be L, even. Maybe "Ryuuga Hideki" was only working for L. If she was L, that would make things all the more difficult. It seemed that even with Shinigami eyes, her name was invisible, which could only mean that she didn't have one. Who in the world didn't have a name? Not including her, of course; she obviously either didn't have a name or she had a way to hide it even from Shinigami.

Even more than that, what did she have to do with Shinigami? If Ryuk didn't know who she was and she could see him, then did that mean she had come into contact with _his_ Death Note at some point in time? That was impossible. He made sure no one could get near it. Befuddled, Light shook his head as he thought about what she'd said at the college. Kira couldn't kill her if she didn't have a name… indeed, that was true… she was untouchable as far as the Death Note was concerned, and killing her in person would leave behind too much evidence. Things would have been so much simpler if he could just make her drop dead of a heart attack like everyone else.

Light heard a crunching noise in his ear as he skimmed through the article for what had to be the hundredth time. He didn't bother looking over, as he knew it was just Ryuk eating an apple.

"_How many times are you going to read that newspaper, Light?_" he asked

"It's not the newspaper, it's just this article," Light said. "I'm starting to wonder if she can see all Shinigami."

"_Is that possible?_"

"I was about to ask you that," Light said. "Do I look like _I'd_ know?" he added with a laugh.

"_No._"

Light closed the newspaper and tossed it back onto his bed. "She's going to end up either getting in the way or joining my side. If I can't kill her, then I'm going to have to talk her over to Kira's side. She can't possibly be lying about having no name if she's still alive after challenging that other Kira to kill her. If she can see all Shinigami, then that means she was either born with the ability or her Death Note is different, I figure. If she has a more powerful note, then I need to talk to her. If she's on the investigation team already, which I don't doubt she is, then I need to get there and – phone…"

Light picked up his phone from the desk when it started ringing. He checked the front screen.

"Dad…" he said. He flipped it open and answered. "Hello?"

"Light," his father's voice said, "Ryuzaki would like to invite you to join the investigation. Please come discretely if you wish to, don't tell your mother or your sister where you're going. We're at the Teito Hotel. Someone will come downstairs to escort you to the headquarters when you arrive."

"Alright, thanks Dad. I'll head down there now."

"That's great," Light said. "Just when I was wondering how to ask. Now I'll know everything that goes on in the investigation first hand."

* * *

Light arrived at the hotel in a taxi about fifteen minutes later. He looked around in the lobby for whoever was supposed to take him upstairs. Obviously, they weren't there yet. It seemed like something L would do, hide out in a hotel room, letting in only those he trusted. There was hope that girl would be working in the investigation. If she was, then he'd be in direct contact with her, be able to gain her trust, and start questioning her. If she was even half as ignorant as she acted, then it would be an easy task. However, if it was all just acting, then she was smart enough to use it to her own advantage.

"_I wish I lived here…_" Ryuk said, looking around.

Light almost answered, but stopped when he saw someone he recognized walking towards him. From where, though…?

"Light-kun, sorry you had to wait."

_Ah, this guy_, Light remembered. _Dad brought him home from work once. Matsuda-something…_

"It's this way," he said, walking back towards the hall while pulling out his cell phone. Light followed him. "Ryuzaki," Matsuda said into the phone, "Light is here, we'll be there in a few minutes."

* * *

"Ryuzaki, if my son agrees with the possibility of a second Kira, then he is cleared of all suspicion?" Yagami asked.

L dropped a couple sugar cubes in a small cup of coffee.

"Yes," he said. "For the most part."

Yagami, L, Aizawa, and Katherine all looked up when the door opened. Katherine, however, went back to reading the newspaper upon seeing who it was. Because she didn't go over to the door when Light came in, he didn't notice she was there immediately.

"Thank you for coming, Yagami-kun," L said.

"That's unnecessary," Light said. "I want to catch Kira just as much as you do, Ryuuga."

Katherine laughed under her breath. "I'll bet…" she mumbled quietly to herself.

"Call me Ryuzaki here," L said.

"And Aihara," Aizawa said.

"Matsui," Matsuda said.

"Asahi."

"I see," Light said. "So then I'm Light Asahi?"

"Thank you for your cooperation," L said. "I will call you Light-kun."

"There's only four of you?" Light asked.

"A-_hem_," Katherine said, raising her arm without looking up from the newspaper. "_Five_."

"There are a few more outside investigators," L said. "Only one of those people outside can contact me directly, though."

_So if everyone but one person in here dies, the killer will be revealed…_ Light thought. _I see. I need to find out who else knows what goes on in here._

L instructed Light to look through the papers sent with the tapes to Sakura TV, then to watch the video that hadn't been broadcasted on the news. As he watched that last video, the team was silent. He wasn't sure what L was trying to do, but he didn't much care for it.

_This makes me sick…_ he thought as he watched the tape. _Is it because I'm the real Kira? This guy did a lot more than destroy my reputation…. I don't know what's going on here, the team hasn't said a word since I started watching the tape, not like when I was looking through the documents. I should just keep quiet about the tapes. If I don't do anything about it, then L will die._

The tape cut off, and he was already being questioned.

"Did you find anything interesting at all?" Katherine asked tonelessly from a chair, now looking through pages in a filing folder.

_Damn it, can she read minds or something? God…_

"I think there may be another person with the same abilities as Kira," Light said.

"What do you mean?" his father asked.

"Well, this might not be the Kira we know. For one, Kira doesn't kill such petty criminals. Also, Kira needs both the name and the face of the victims to kill, but this person obviously doesn't, judging by how he killed police officers at Sakura TV."

"Question," Katherine said, standing up and walking over by where the rest of the team was standing. "If this person has the same powers as Kira except he doesn't need a name to kill, then how am I still alive?"

_She's trying to make me say something only Kira would know… it's not going to work._

"I don't know," Light said. "Maybe you sent in the tapes."

"Maybe _you_ sent them in, and you're trying to get suspicion off of yourself by saying there's a second Kira."

"Tell me," she said, leaning back against the arm of a chair behind her, "what type of person do you think Kira is?"

_I already went through this with Ryuzaki once… either he's put her up to this or I'm practically dealing with two Ls here…_

"Probably a rich kid from a perfect family. Most likely in middle school to high school."

"How about this second Kira?"

"About the same, I'd expect, but not quite as smart as the first Kira."

"Well," Katherine said, "then you just proved I didn't send the tapes in. Thanks for that."

"I thought you agreed –" Yagami began.

"That was until I started getting accused," she said, glaring at the floor. "God knows I've gotten enough of that out of you people…

"But good job, anyway," Katherine said. "We suspect a second Kira as well. We just needed confirmation from someone else who had no clues from inside the team that the theory was reliable."

_So no matter what I said, they would have told me they suspected a second Kira. Now, my suspicion has decreased… for the rest of the team. She still seems to think… then again, she's the only one that can see Ryuk…_

"Our first priority is to stop the second Kira," L said. "We will record a fake tape of the same nature, basically telling this person that we are the real Kira. If this theory is incorrect, then the plan is worthless. However, now that we're fairly sure it's correct, it's definitely worth a try."

"So we're hoping you will help us by pretending to be Kira," Katherine said, looking at Light.

"M… why me?"

"Well," Katherine said, "everyone here has agreed that you're good with profiling. So obviously you could profile Kira. This means you shouldn't have any trouble trying to think like him, right?"

"Right," Light said.

_Is this why they wanted me to join…?_

"We have to start work soon, as we're already running out of time," L said. "I plan to have this broadcasted on the evening news, so start working on a draft immediately. Matsui-san, please make a video with the word 'Kira' up to par with what Kira himself would most likely do. Aihara-san, do the same for voice distortion. Asahi-san, please make arrangements for ten minutes of air time on all the major news stations for seven o' clock."

"And I will be doing the reading of the script, so that in the event that this Kira is smart and wants to kill the real Kira and manages to unscramble the voice and match it to someone's, it will be matched to a person that he can't kill," Katherine told Light. "But you're writing it. So get to work. And I'll be reading it when you're done and letting you know if it sucks or not."

"I could really start to dislike you…" Light said, shaking his head as he took a piece of blank paper from L and took a pen out of his pocket.

* * *

"Aren't you done yet?" Katherine asked, sitting sideways in one of the chairs.

Light rolled his eyes. "It's been two minutes."

"I can write three paragraphs in two minutes."

"_You're_ not the one doing this."

"Aye… someone's in a crabby mood." She maneuvered around and sat forward in the chair. She picked up her bag and began rummaging through it. "Would a soda help?"

"No."

"Bottle of water?"

"No."

"Bag of potato chips?"

He looked back. "Do you have a whole convenient store in that bag or something?"

"Maybe," she said slowly, looking at him suspiciously. "What's it to you?"

He shook his head and went back to the paper. Since the others were working on everything else in connecting rooms, L was back and forth between rooms. Katherine and Light were the only two in that room at the time, which meant she had nothing better to do than torment Light. Since she knew he was Kira and she despised Kira, that made it all the more fun.

"Chocolate bar?"

"Why are you trying to distract me?"

"Because there's nothing better to do…" she said with a sigh. "I kinda wish I had stayed in the shadows, then I could act whenever and however I wanted to. I mean, I've actually _seen_ Kira before."

Light's heart jumped in surprise, but he managed not to show it. How had she seen Kira before? Did that mean she knew it was him?

"You have?" he said, pretending to be intrigued. He looked back.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "Back before I knew I didn't have a name. I wish I had known, then I could have figured out who he was…. This guy was wearing a winter hat and a really big coat, so I couldn't really see him that well, but he had started tailing Raye Penber, so I followed behind at a safe distance. I heard everything they both said. The guy proved he was Kira by killing some dude walking out of a coffee shop who had been connected to a string of rapes the year before. Penber believed him, especially when Kira threatened to take someone important to him as a hostage – I'm guessing his fiancé. I think Kira was after him because he found out he was in the FBI somehow, and he wanted to know who the rest of the FBI agents were to kill them. I even followed them onto the train. It was a great find, I found out a lot with that."

_Shit…_ Light thought to himself. _D… dammit, calm down… she still hasn't accused me of being Kira, but she would have seen Ryuk right behind me if she can see him, which means that she could have recognized Ryuk. That's really not good. Just play dumb, that's all you can do…_

"Wow," he said with a laugh. "That's probably the closest anyone has come in contact with Kira without getting killed."

"I know," she said thoughtfully. "Lucky I'm Kira-proof. I think he also killed Naomi Misora. She disappeared, to, and I saw her talking to someone once coming out of a police station. Didn't see who it was, but she just randomly up and left in the middle of the conversation. After Penber's death, I decided to tail her, because I knew that she'd want revenge on Kira for killing her fiancé."

"So you're not as dumb as you've been acting?"

"Nope," Katherine said brightly. "I'm actually pretty smart. I'm smart enough to use my natural born acting skills to my advantage. They're better used in a case like this than somewhere like Hollywood. Sure, that would get me more money, but I don't need money. I just want to get rid of Kira. My three best friends are con artists. I don't even know their real names," she added with a laugh. "They've never told me. They're the reason I have a fake identification. I've got a driver's license and enough identity to buy a house, which is more than enough for me. If Kira killed them, I don't know what I'd do…. They've been acting as my spies through the whole thing. I told them it was dangerous, but they insisted they weren't letting me do it alone."

"So," Light said, "that's who was at the college with you?"

"One of them, yeah," she said. "You're pretty sharp. You should probably use that sharpness to continue working on the Kira-speech and quit getting distracted."

"Very funny," Light said sarcastically.

"I know I am."

Even though it wasn't too obvious, Katherine could tell Light was completely unnerved now. After telling him earlier that she could see his Shinigami – who was sitting next to Light at that time – she knew that Light had to know she had seen that Shinigami on the day she had seen Kira. He had acted surprised and intrigued, and he was just as good an actor as she was, but there was no doubt in her mind that he wanted to find a way to kill her, and fast. She would have laughed aloud at that thought if he weren't sitting right there. Since he was, however, she had to keep the laughter to herself. She knew he was also dying to ask how she could see the Shinigami, but he couldn't. If L walked in while Light was talking about that, he would definitely have some major explaining to be doing.

Indeed, Light was unnerved. He needed to think of some way to kill her, and he needed to think of a way fast. He wasn't too far from coming to the solution of just taking someone's gun and shooting her. It seemed like the only way to get her out of the way. However, if he did that, it would _definitely_ raise some questions from the team. It would be kind of hard to get information from her if the team was either around all the time or could walk in at any moment, so that wasn't an option. She was an obstacle that he hadn't ever expected. Maybe the gods weren't on his side as much as he had previously thought they were. He was doing good for the world, and someone like her had to come around, an obstacle that seemed to block him from all sides.

There was no chance that she was the second Kira. There was no way she could act like she was this against him if she really wasn't. No one was _that_ good of an actor. If she was the second Kira and she could see Ryuk, then she would have concluded who he was through that and joined him. She was going to be a _huge_ problem. It seemed there was no way to get rid of her, no matter how he thought it through. If she didn't even know her friends' names, there was no way he could manipulate one of them into killing her. How could he manipulate someone with no connection to her to do it? He'd have to think of something, or it was very possible that she could bring about Kira's downfall.


	8. Chapter 7: Reapers Only Eat Apples

"Finished."

"_Finally_," Katherine said, jerking the paper from Light's hands.

"Hey!"

"You said you were finished," she said, looking back at him. "Hmm. This isn't good…."

"What?"

She laughed. "The 'It's fine with me if you kill L' part. That'll make you seem a little suspicious, don't you think?"

"He told me to think like Kira," Light said, laughing. "I figure Kira wouldn't want his reputation tarnished, but he'd still want L dead. It's just a joke, I was going to take it out."

"Well," she said, handing him back the paper, "don't change it yet. I'm not supposed to be proofreading, anyway. Not my job. My job's acting. Whoopee. I don't get to do much of anything." She sighed. "I'll go out on my own and get information without the team if I have to. I just won't be doing any good otherwise.

"By the way," she said quickly and quietly – she had just heard a door being unlocked. "You are thinking correctly, and I do know your secret."

Light refrained from looking surprised at the risk of whoever was coming through the door linking to the next room seeing his reaction to what she had said.

Everyone else had finished everything they'd been instructed to do while L was reading over the speech, so everyone had returned to the main headquarters room. When he finished reading it, L looked a little puzzled. Katherine tried hard not to laugh or smile too much – the confused look that one line had left on his face was just too cute. And as good at acting as she might have been, holding back amusement wasn't one of her strong points. However, she managed.

"Is it good enough?" Light asked L. "I wrote it as if I were Kira."

"It's alright…" he said uncertainly, not looking down from the paper. "Except if you don't remove the 'It is fine with me to kill L' part…" He looked over at Light. "… I'll die."

Light laughed. "I just thought Kira would have wanted to make sure L died." L looked at him blankly. "I was just kidding," Light said, still laughing. "You can take it off."

"Okay."

* * *

Katherine's only job was giving the speech. The speech itself seemed kind of diabolical and overly… unkind…. That was reflected especially at the 'If you do not heed my warning, I will punish you without hesitation" part. Even though it was about an hour before seven o' clock, she was reading over it again and again so she wouldn't sound like she was just reading off of paper when she gave the speech. Even if her voice was going to be electronically distorted, she wanted it to sound convincing. She still listened to the investigation team, but not as intently as she would have otherwise. Their conversation was more like faint background noise than actual talking, but she could still hear it well enough to pick up everything she needed to hear.

"If this works, then the second Kira will most likely want to meet the first Kira," Light said. "Judging by his behavior, he's not going to be too careful about it, either, which should give us a major clue as to where to find them."

"How likely _is_ it that it'll work?" Matsuda asked.

"Ninety percent."

Katherine half glanced up, having heard L say this at the exact same time she had, but she continued reading over the paper. He seemed to be too busy stacking sugar cubes on the table in front of him to notice.

"What was up with _that_?" Matsuda asked Aizawa quietly.

"Ninety percent is good," Aizawa said, obviously trying to ignore Matsuda's inquiry. "One hundred would be better, but that's unlikely to happen in a case like this."

"Hey," Katherine said, looking over, "it _is_ one hundred percent likely that Kira _will_ be caught."

"Besides that," Aizawa said.

"Six forty-five," Light said, checking his watch. "Fifteen minutes left."

"Until my first live acting gig," Katherine said with a laugh. "I bet Kira's going to be sitting back laughing at the transaction between the fake Kira and us."

"Hey," Matsuda said slowly, "what happens if the real Kira sends in a video next?"

"Oh," Katherine said, sitting up straighter. "That wouldn't be… well, it wouldn't be bad, but it wouldn't be good, either. I don't know how. It would expose us as frauds. We're not exactly really Kira, so we can't kill anyone to prove that we are. But, since no one knows who we are anyway, it can't hurt anything. So… eh," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. She shifted sideways in the chair, crossing her legs, and continued to read over the paper. "It wouldn't be too big of a deal."

"Unless Kira decided to prove who he is by murder when he sent in a video," Yagami said.

"Well," Katherine side, biting her thumbnail, "that's already something Kira does, anyway, so it wouldn't make much of a difference, except it would be public. He'd just save a couple criminals for when he made the video that he would have killed anyway."

"And it's not a big deal that he's killing them in the first place?" Aizawa asked, incensed. "How can you –"

"Well, can _you_ stop them from being killed?" Katherine asked him. "I know that with as little information as _I_ have, I have no way of stopping Kira, not on my own. But if you do, then feel free to act. No ones stopping you here. In fact, if you know enough to go stop Kira without getting yourself killed, I encourage you to do so. Until then, there's no use fretting over every single life he takes, it'll just frustrate you. The more frustrated we get, the harder it will be to focus on capturing Kira. That's why I've been so relaxed this whole time."

"In a case like this, I think there's a such thing as 'too relaxed'…"

"I don't," Katherine said airily. "How do you think I came up with the second Kira theory so fast? True, I may have told Kira off on live television, but I knew it was a second Kira before that, because I manage to stay calm ninety-nine percent of the time when I'm investigating."

"Five more minutes," Matsuda said, now checking his watch.

"Alright," Katherine said, sitting back regularly and leaning forward to where the microphone was. "Flip on a news channel someone. We've got to be prepared when they connect to us."

* * *

"_I am Kira. The person who sent in tapes a few days ago was only an imposter_."

"­Yaaay!"

Misa Amane sat on the floor in front of the television set in her flat and watched the broadcast. After having had sent in the first Kira tapes, she had been waiting for the real Kira to reply. He was like God to her, and she wanted more than anything just to meet him. After killing the horrible man that had torn her family apart, she had become completely devoted to Kira. When she picked up a Death Note after she had watched a stalked that was about to kill her die of heart failure before her eyes, and when she learned that the Death Note was the same means Kira used to kill, what else would she do with it but use it for his gain? Rem, however, disapproved. That wasn't a problem for Misa, as she was happy with all she was doing.

"_First, I have some words for the impersonator. I will forgive your imitation if you're on my side and wish to become my spokesperson._"

"Kira answered!" Misa said happily, looking back at Rem. "I told you!"

"_However, killing innocent policemen to cover your tracks isn't acceptable at all. Such actions will only destroy my reputation and create panic amongst the public. If you're truly on my side and wish to help me, please don't act so brazenly, it's a foolish thing to do. If you do not heed my warning, you will be punished without hesitation._"

"Video!" Misa said suddenly. "I need video!"

She jumped on her bed and leaned over the side to check under it.

"I know I had some left…" she said.

"_What are you planning to do?_" Rem asked her.

"Reply," Misa said happily, sitting back up with a video in her hand. She pursed her lips. "But what should I say?"

* * *

"Ryuzaki, the second Kira responded!"

The investigation team all looked over at the computer that had just issued an electronic voice. It was sitting on an end table. Katherine looked to see Light's reaction – the computer had an "L" in the background of the screen, the same that L used for his broadcast. Light definitely looked a bit perplexed.

"The envelope and the way the tapes were formed are identical to the last package sent in. The envelope and the tapes are on there way, I'll stream you the video right now."

The background of the computer switched to the sloppily drawn 'Kira' that the impersonator used.

"_Kira-san! Thanks for replying! I'll do everything Kira-san said._"

_Hmmm_, Katherine thought, looking over at Light, _that must piss him off, he was probably hoping this Kira would insist on L's appearing on TV. He definitely looks at least a little peeved._

"_I want to meet Kira-san. I think Kira-san still doesn't have the eyes, but don't worry! I won't kill Kira-san no matter what!_"

_Wow…_ Katherine thought, almost tempted to laugh. _Either this is one queer son of a bitch or Kira has a fan girl that picked up a Death Note. It's funny either way you look at it… and she's not very smart, obviously, talking about Shinigami eyes on the video? Wow. I'd like to meet this Kira just for a laugh._

"He said 'doesn't have the eyes…'" L said with a contemplative look on his face. "What does that mean?"

"_Please think of a way to meet without getting caught by the police. When we meet, we can confirm each other's identity by our Reapers._"

_Oh my __**God**__, whoever this is, is definitely mentally challenged…_ Katherine thought to herself, biting her thumbnail. She looked over nonchalantly when she heard a clatter, between a chair falling over and someone falling out of a chair. She refrained from laughing. _Well, looks like it surprised L. Of course, it'd surprise me, too, if I didn't know what the hell was going on._

"Reapers?" L said. "Does something like that actually exist…?"

"Probably not," Katherine said. "This girl is obviously psycho-crazy over Kira, and people like that are bound to talk about things like reapers."

"'She?'" Yagami said. "Explain."

Katherine laughed. "Listen to the tone of voice of it all. Even though it's distorted, what would fit in? The voice of a Kira fan-girl definitely would, one of those ones that goes on blogging websites just to praise Kira as a God of Justice or some garbage like that. Problem is, this fan-girl now has the same ability as Kira and can kill people who oppose him. Hopefully, she won't now, because that's too many innocent lives."

"The messages Kira made his victims in prison write also affirm the existence of reapers," L said.

"Ah," Katherine said with a laugh. "The 'Reapers only eat apples' ones. Those were great."

"So maybe this was from the same Kira as who killed those criminals?" Yagami suggested.

"That's not it, Dad," Light said. "The old Kira probably wouldn't respond to our fake tape. Also, if it had been him, he would have been intelligent enough to insist for L to appear on TV. He wouldn't have been so obedient."

"What if the second Kira and the first Kira have already contacted each other, and they're using things like 'reapers' to confuse us?"

"Probably not," L said, getting up. "As Raito-kun said, the original Kira wouldn't have allowed the chance for me to be killed to slip." He stood the chair back up. "This Kira isn't trying to do whatever the original Kira would to, but rather whatever needs to be done to reach a certain goal, and not acting in pursuit of Kira's goal. This Kira is doing whatever needs to be done to meet the real Kira."

"So then," Katherine said, "obviously this Kira doesn't care about reforming the world. Only about meeting her idol."

"Maybe Reaper is a code word for their ability to kill…" Light said.

"And 'the eyes,' refer to the fact that this Kira can kill just by a glance. 'Confirming identities with our reapers' would mean to kill someone on the spot."

"I agree," L said. "At the least, it's certain that 'Reaper' is something the two Kiras have in common. It'll help us a lot if we can find out more."

"So what now?" Light asked. "Do we reply again? If we do it wrong, the impersonator find out we're not really Kira."

"Nah," Katherine said. "I think we should wait for the two Kiras to act now."

_Of course_… Light thought, trying to act as surprised by her answer as the rest of the team. _She's just trying to trick me again._

"Wait for them?" Aizawa said.

"Considering the reply we've gotten," L said, "the second Kira must be fairly content with the situation. The real Kira is probably paying close attention to the exchange between us and the second Kira. The imposter plans to give Kira a message only the two of them would understand, using Sakura TV's six o' clock news. Kira probably wants to minimize contact between the second Kira and the police, which will mean he'll try to meet this Kira as soon as possible to stop us from confiscating more tapes from the second. If the second Kira starts to leak out their secrets, it would be bad news. If the real Kira sends a reply, however, it would be great; we'd be even closer to having physical evidence of Kira.

"Please warn each TV station about this and set up surveillance," L told the team. "If another message is sent, then I will decide whether it will be aired or not. We will soon be able to start tracking where the second Kira is."

Katherine's cell phone buzzed in her pocket. As L was giving orders, she took it out and checked it. She had a new text message. She had told Don never to text her unless it was an emergency, which had to mean it was an emergency… she decided it would be best to check it. Three words that she had never wanted to see were the first words she saw on the little screen: "police spotted Al." She scrolled the message down, afraid of what else it might say. "Call back NOW."

"Umm…" Katherine said slowly, standing, "I've got to go make a call… something's come up, this is important, I'll be back shortly…"

Katherine walked to the door and out into the hallway. She quickly dialed Don's number and held the phone to her ear. She bit her bottom lip, waiting for him to pick up. Now she needed a cigarette. No amount of caffeine in the world could calm her nerves.

"Kat?" Don said. "Did you get –"

"No shit, I got it!" she hissed at him. "Now give me his name or I'll –"

"He's told us not to," Don said. "He's right here, I can't right now. The police recognized him."

"Then give me his name and I'll –"

There was the sound of static, and then Al's voice came on the phone instead.

"You're _not_ getting my real name," he said. "If I die, it's me own fault for going out without any hat or sunglasses to cover my face, that's not your problem."

"Yes it _is_ and –"

"Right. Let's suppose you have one year left to live and you save me. That would give up your year, kill you, and leave us completely dumbstruck about what to do next."

"If I die, then you don't have to work on the Kira case!"

"If any _one_ of us for dies, then face it, the other three will become even _more_ involved in the case. My name should be up on the next news show. Don't try to save me. If one of us three over here dies, then the other two still have the mastermind."

"You _listen_ _**here**_," Katherine said, squeezing her phone so hard that she could hear the plastic creaking slightly. "I have _three_ friends. If one of them dies, I'm going to snap and kill Light Yagami, and then Kira will never be caught. This isn't going to work, I _will_ find your name before the next news show."

"Best be quick," he said. "Four o' clock news comes on in thirty seconds. I don't want you to save me, it could kill you and then we'd be running around in circles. At least if I die, you can continue the Kira investigation. You know who Kira is, all you have to do is find a way to prove it. Us three aren't smart enough to do that, we're only acting by your order. How are we supposed to act by your order if you're dead? Just leave it be, it was my mistake."

"Damn it, Al…" she said, feeling tears in her eyes. She blinked them away as best as she could – the investigation team couldn't know what was going on, they had to stay focused on the Kira case, which meant she couldn't start crying by any means. That would be a distraction. "Why'd you have to go and do something stupid like go outdoors? Fresh air is completely overrated, you should know that! What were you _thinking_? Damn it… fine. If you want to die… I won't try to save you. I can't now, anyway. I know it's already too late. There'll be a special news bulletin on the news about Ireland's most wanted serial killer in Japan, and either Kira or the second Kira won't pass up that opportunity. Kira is here – Light Yagami is, I mean, he's on the investigation team, but the second Kira… I just don't know. Let me go. I'm just going to end up crushing my phone if I don't. Goodbye…"

"Bye…"

She shut her phone, her hands shaking. She walked back into the hotel room quietly, so not to disrupt the investigation team. She sat back in the chair she'd been seated in, knowing that she couldn't do a thing about what was about to happen. If he wasn't murdered durring the four o' clock news, it would just happen at another time. It didn't matter. There was no use trying to put a stop to it, as Al had said. As unfortunate as it was, they indeed weren't very intelligent alone and did need her. She wished she had a way of telling how many years she had left in her life. That would have made it a lot easier to act. She kept her cell phone clenched in her hand, waiting for another message to respond to, but not at all looking forward to it.


	9. Chapter 8: Note Blue

Misa closed her Death Note after she shut off her television. She set her pen on her night stand and sat up on the bed, crisscrossing her legs. She held on to the notebook. Even having had the note for a while now, she still had an innumerable amount of questions about it, and about 'Shinigami.' It was all so interesting. She still wasn't entirely sure why it had been her to get that Death Note. She felt that she was destined to help Kira in his quest after learning about Kira's Shinigami, and after learning that Kira himself used a Death Note.

"So…" Misa looked down at her Death Note, then up at Rem. "A Shinigami can't go anywhere without their own Death Note, which means they have to have two to give one to a human. And Ryuk is Kira's Shinigami, and he tricked the king into giving him another one so he could have two?"

"_Right._"

"Is that what Rem did, too?" Misa asked Rem curiously.

"_No_," Rem said. "_It isn't that easy to trick the King._"

"Well, how did you get a second one?"

"_I'm a Shinigami who is rarely seen in our own realm. One that knows how to kill other Shinigami, I mean._"

"B-but… did you kill another Shinigami just to get this Death Note?"

"_No. I just happened to run into a Shinigami who died. I can't kill them myself…_"

Misa sat up straighter. "Will you tell me how to kill them??" she asked excitedly. "I bet Kira doesn't know how to, it'll give us something to talk about when I meet him!"

"_Okay_," Rem said. "_But be careful of who you tell. The only way to kill a Shinigami is to make one fall in love with a human._"

Misa looked confused. She thought for a moment, then said, "That's an awfully romantic way to kill someone…"

"_Gelus was the Shinigami I witnessed the death of. He liked to watch one human girl; it was easy to tell he had fallen in love with her. After seeing him die, I figured out why my kind still die, even though we can extend our lives by using humans for compensation. Gelus kept watching that one girl, even on the day her life was supposed to end. He was in disbelief because of how young she was. I was interested, so I watched along with him. It was at night time in the human world; a stalker revealed himself to her from out of the darkness and told her that he was going to kill her and then himself. Out of love for the girl, Gelus did something Shinigami are never supposed to do. To save the girl's life, he wrote the stalker's name in his own Death Note. He saved the girl's life by making the stalker leave where she was, then die of a heart attack forty seconds later. The girl had no idea about this; all she ever knew was that the stalker had mysteriously given up on his goal to kill her, and just left. She had no idea that there was anyone or anything behind it._

"_The reason for Shinigami is to shorten the lives of humans; extending them is completely absurd. So, Gelus died; he turned into a pile of sand and metallic rust that I'd never seen before. His Death Note was all that was left. Gelus failed his eternal mission by going directly against it to save that one girl._"

"So…" Misa said slowly, "if he hadn't been in love with the girl, he wouldn't have died if he had killed that man?"

"_Right. He didn't die because he killed the stalker; he died because he extended the life of the girl. When a Shinigami fails to do his job, he dies._"

"So…" Misa hugged the notebook to her. "The one who saved me from the stalker was that Shinigami?"

"_Correct. So, this Death Note belongs to you._"

She lay back on her bed, smiling. "Now I have even _more_ things to tell Kira-san! I just wish he'd give me a reply to my last message. Maybe I should do something else…."

* * *

The second Kira had taken his (or her, as Katherine had so far perceived it) next move without provocation from the investigation team or the real Kira. The team was reviewing the package he had sent this time, which was another video and a page of a diary (which, as Katherine said, made it more likely for the second Kira to be female). Katherine had taken the diary page from Matsuda to examine it when he was sent downstairs to wait for Light to get there. She had taken a particular interest in decoding the diary. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor with the page on the table in the room. There was a half smoked cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth, which was enough to keep her nerves calm for the moment. She'd been using an empty coffee cup on the table to flick ashes off in.

Staying calm was something she had always been able to do without help, so actually needed something to keep her calm was new to her. She didn't like it much. As it turned out, all the caffeine did was make her even more nervous and apprehensive. She didn't want to start smoking again, but she knew she'd have a breakdown if she didn't do something. She had her cell phone in one of her hands; she still hadn't gotten any word on Al yet, and she wasn't going to let the phone go until she did get some news.

Indeed, Katherine truly knew what was encoded in the diary message. One bit said "22nd, met with friend in Aoyama to exchange notes." That referred to one of two things; either the Death Note, or that the second Kira would be at a club called Note Blue that was holding a special event on the twenty-second. It also said "24th, went shopping with friends in Shibuya, bought some summer clothes." So, the twenty-fourth would be a time to monitor Shibuya, particularly around clothing stores. Then, it read "30th, saw reaper at the Giants game in the Tokyo Dome." That would mean it would be required to cancel the game on the thirtieth of that month. To her, the message was so straight-forward that it was amazing. No one else seemed to notice, or they just weren't going to mention it yet.

Matsuda returned with Light about five minutes later, and Katherine was forced to give up her hold on the diary entry. Before she spoke about her opinions, she decided to wait to hear everyone else's. Yagami handed Light the entry.

"Is this going to be aired?" Light asked.

"Look at the thirtieth," he said.

Light read the part about the thirtieth, then looked over the rest of the entry. After a few minutes, L spoke.

"What do you think, Light-kun?"

"Hmm?" Light said, looking over. "Well… right now, from this, I think he has to be an idiot."

"Yeah," Matsuda said in agreement. "If he wants the diary on TV, then it has to be a message to Kira. It's from last year, but the Giants are playing in the Tokyo Dome at the same time this year, so it's obvious he wants to meet Kira there."

"If this is shown of TV, then there will be panic," Yagami said. "The game may even be postponed."

"Yeah, there'll be real panic. The media will probably over exaggerate it and say that anyone who goes to the game will die."

"I agree with Light-kun," L said, taking a seat in a chair. "I think he's a real idiot. So much that I'm not sure how to deal with this. If we show the diary, the game will be canceled. If we don't, the second Kira won't move out of the shadows."

"And we might even anger the second Kira if we don't show it…" Matsuda said.

"I doubt that would be a problem," Katherine said, putting out her cigarette in a coffee cup. She put an elbow up on the table and rested her head on her hand. "This Kira worships the real Kira, and said in response to our 'real' Kira that she wouldn't hurt any more innocent people. I think we can hold her to that."

"We have to air the diary," L said. "Then, we have to cancel the game and have a perimeter set up around the game that day. The police officers who helped on the day the first Kira video was aired should be willing to help again. After that, we can just make another tape for an 'understood, see you there,' kind of reply."

"Do you really think they'd meet, knowing we'll be watching for them?" Yagami asked.

"The real Kira probably won't, but we might catch the second Kira."

"Honestly, I think she might be a little smarter than we all assumed," Katherine said. "The 'twenty-second' entry about Aoyama may hold some interesting significance. There's a club called Note Blue there that's holding some sort of special event on the twenty-second. In that message, it mentions a note and Aoyama. It might be a coincidence, but it's worth checking out."

"Then if you look at the twenty-fourth," L said, looking at the page, "it mentions Shibuya. We should have someone keep watch there."

"Particularly around clothing stores, as the message says 'went shopping for summer clothing.' We need to send some disguised investigators there on the specified dates."

"If Kira or the second Kira discover us, we'll be killed," Yagami said. "It's too dangerous."

"For the dome," L said, "we'll announce our actions ahead of time. That way, publicly stopping people to question them won't be a problem. If the second Kira is still stupid enough to show up with the place crawling with police, he'll be caught easily."

"Easily?" Matsuda said. "People will die in the process…"

"I think Ryuzaki is trying to say the second Kira won't be stupid enough to go to the dome," Yagami said.

"Right," L said. "And as for Aoyama and Shibuya, the second Kira wouldn't attack recklessly anyway. We shouldn't have any problem if our field agents just blend in as citizens. In case of finding anyone suspicious, report back immediately and don't act on your own. Someone like Asahi-san, whose eyes radiate justice and valor, definitely shouldn't go."

"I'll go," Katherine volunteered.

"The second Kira would recognize you," Yagami said.

She laughed. "And what would she be able to do to me?"

"Nothing, but he could kill whoever you're with," Light said. "That would be dangerous."

"I can go alone –"

"Wouldn't it be better for two or three of us to go?" Matsuda said.

"Probably…" Katherine said. "Ah! I can go in disguise. I've done a lot of my work on the case like that, I'm used to it, I like being on the battlefront, the base gets boring after a while, come _on –_"

"Alright," Yagami said.

"Yay!" she cheered.

"Okay, who else?"

"I can go," Matsuda said.

"I'll go, too," Light said. "I'll be fine," he added, seeing the look his father was giving him. "I go to Aoyama and Shibuya sometimes, I'll blend in. Besides, the second Kira will be too busy looking for Kira to notice me."

_Yeah, meaning she'll be too busy looking for **you**…_ Katherine thought, glaring at Light for a moment. _You're so full of crap… I can't believe I'm the only person in this room that knows what you really are._

"As this could be a chance for the first and second Kira to meet," L said, "I'd like to increase security."

"What do you mean?" Aizawa said.

"Well, we obviously shouldn't give out any information about each other, but from this point forward, you should all avoid going out in public as police, and destroy all pictures that depict you as such, other than those that belong to you. I've never left behind any pictures of me, it would be a good idea for security purposes for you to do the same. So, please destroy any pictures in personal files and maybe pictures given to family and friends."

"Ryuzaki," Yagami said, "do you _still_ suspect my son?"

"Since it's not zero percent, it's still possible. Precautions need to be taken in case the second Kira can kill just by seeing a face. We can't leave ourselves vulnerable, so we also have to catch the second Kira as soon as possible."

* * *

Light returned home later that night. He locked the door to his room behind him, then looked over his shoulder at Ryuk.

"I have some questions for you," he told Ryuk.

"_Okay, like what?_"

"Can two Shinigami talk to each other when they meet in the human world?"

"_Hmmm… personally, I wouldn't without the permission of my human host first, it's just against my personality. But any other Shinigami may approach me and say hello."_

"So if the fake Kira's Shinigami sees you, will he tell his human host who I am?"

"_Probably not. It's up to him, though. But I won't tell you, either._"

"That seems logical," Light said, sitting on the chair in front of the computer. "I should probably look for somewhere in Aoyama for us to meet…" he said. "Maybe that Note Blue place…"

"_The one the girl was talking about?_" Ryuk said.

"Yeah…" Light said, looking it up online. "She was right, they're holding an event that day. I wonder how she knew that… it would be strange if she _was_ the second Kira. She keeps incriminating herself."

"_How?_"

Light stood up and walked over to his bed. He sat down.

"Well, so far, she's come up with this Note Blue place out of nowhere, and she's recognized the fact that the second Kira is probably a girl. She's mentioned to me that she can see you, which means she probably has a Death Note, and she was the only person to show her face to the cameras in front of Sakura TV that didn't die the night the first Kira tape was broadcasted. It's either all a strange coincidence, or she's the second Kira. I know L only let me on the team out of suspicion against me, but it might be possible he did the same with her."

"_If you go and the other Shinigami sees you, then he might tell the second Kira who you are. Do you want him to know?_"

"There's still enough time before the twenty-second for me to think about it," Light said, lying down. "If that Katherine girl is the second Kira, then it'll be hard to get rid of her. She doesn't seem like she would be, though. With as much as she hates Kira, it's hard to believe that could be an act."

* * *

Matsuda, Yagami, Aizawa, L, and Katherine were still left at headquarters, going over the plans. Katherine, who hadn't slept for the past week and a half, was drinking a soda to keep her awake. Falling asleep in the middle of a meeting would have been a little juvenile. She was still somewhat spaced, just barely able to focus on the plans. She snapped back into focus durring the conversation about the plans for Aoyama and Shibuya.

"Hey," Matsuda said to Katherine. "Didn't you say you have spies? If they're used to this, why don't we use them as back-up?"

"I'm going to be firing them soon," she said, trying to keep her voice nonchalant. "It's nothing against them at all. They're good spies, but… seeing as they're my friends... It's just too dangerous. If either of the two who weren't accused of murder die, by the way, then I'll have a good idea of who Kira is."

"How so?" Yagami asked.

"Because the people on this team are the only people in Japan who have any idea of who they are," she said. "And out of the people on this team, the only person who knows even the alias of one of them is Light."

"So you suspect my son as well."

"I've suspected your son since I started working on the case," she said. "He was one of the people Raye Penber was investigating. No one else he tailed fit the role better."

"We set up surveillance in their house," Aizawa said. "Every single angle was covered, how could he have done anything with us watching him? He only watched the news once the whole week, and people were still dying."

"He could have outwitted you," Katherine said. "I don't suspect him much, but I will suspect him if one of my friends is killed without a picture being put up on the news."

"You won't suspect him if the one who's accused of murder dies?" Matsuda asked.

"No," she said with a sigh. "If the police see him, his picture will be put on the news. The person who framed him was a serial killer, and a rather brutal one at that. So, he's definitely in the greatest danger from Kira, I won't come to any conclusion if he dies.

"Can we get back to talking about the plans now?" Katherine said.

Everyone agreed, allowing her a bit of relief. She didn't want to have to smoke again. She had quit because she was doing it too much in the first place, but now she needed it. That hadn't been something she had ever expected. It did calm her nerves, however, and that was something she needed, given the situation. She was definitely grateful she hadn't received the call she'd been dreading from her friends, but it made her all the more apprehensive about it. She had told those three she didn't want them getting involved in the case in the first place, but they had insisted. She felt it was her fault for allowing them to help her. If she hadn't, then she would be in Japan alone, with no one else's safety to have to worry about. This made it a lot more stressful. Keeping calm was going to start to get a lot harder.


	10. Chapter 9: Disguised

"Alright, we'll be meeting with a group of people from the college, so we can just blend in with them. Obviously you'll be using aliases," Light told Katherine and Matsuda. They three of them had met up in Aoyama after having left Light up to planning how they would stay inconspicuous. "You're my cousins from out of town and –"

"And I'm his little sister, Amaya, who decided to tag along just because of my favorite pastime of annoying my least favorite cousin half to death," Katherine said with a careful nod – she knew that the short black wig she was wearing wouldn't fall off, but it still felt like it was going to. "You'll be using your regular alias name," she told Matsuda, "but you are _not_ a police officer. See, Light-kun hangs out with junkies and alcoholics, and they'd just scatter if they knew that the police were –"

"_What_ are you talking about?" Light said incredulously, shaking his head.

She laughed. "I'm just playing the 'annoying my least favorite cousin' role," she said with a shrug. "You didn't know I was going to start practicing early?"

"Can't you wait until you're _supposed_ to do it?"

"I've got to get into character. You're not an actor, you wouldn't understand," Katherine said with a dismissive wave of her hand. She then examined her wrist. "Hmm. That looks a lot thinner without spike bracelets."

"You're already in character," Light said irritably.

"Thank you!" she said brightly. "But that's not going to stop me. Now, as for the disguise," she added a little nervously. "It looked genuine enough, right?"

"Sure," Light said. "You look even shorter than usual."

"I couldn't exactly wear my platform boots…" she said. "They're kind of the other me's trademark. Just as long as I don't look like me, no one should ever guess, so that's more what I'm asking."

"No one from the college should be able to tell," Light said. "And if they can't, the second Kira won't be able to."

"You really can't even tell you're from Europe," Matsuda said. "It should work."

"Yeah," she said. "The second Kira won't be able to tell who I am until she checks to see my name and realizes I don't have one…. Is that who we're meeting?" she added, pointing up to a small crowd in front of them.

"Yeah," Light said.

The entire time Light was introducing Matsuda and Katherine as his cousins from out of town, Katherine was keeping her eyes peeled around everywhere else. If she could spot another Shinigami besides Lights (who seemed to find the random insults she kept throwing at Light fairly amusing), she would be able to spot the second Kira. Light's plan was definitely a good one; even if the second Kira's Shinigami spotted Light's Shinigami and told her, there would be no way of telling who he was following out of the crowd. If the second Kira had some way of telling apart other Death Note owners, then she'd be confused between Light and Katherine, who both owned Death Notes. It wasn't long before Katherine came across the second Shinigami. She almost slipped up and gasped at the sight, but she managed to pass it off as a sneeze, thereafter stating that she was allergic to dorks like Light.

The Shinigami was standing behind a girl with a short, black haircut and glasses. They were inside a small diner, and the girl was facing the front window, staring outside. She was wearing what looked like a school uniform, and looking out into the crowd. Katherine saw her say something to the Shinigami, looking confused; apparently, Shinigami eyes could distinguish other Death Note owners, as she seemed to be looking between Katherine and Light when she spoke to the Shinigami. What surprised Katherine, however, wasn't the girl. It was the Shinigami that completely baffled her; it was Rem, the first of their kind that Katherine had ever spoken with directly.

Even after all those years, she had still been trying to convince herself that Shinigami weren't real and the Death Note was a load of garbage. She wasn't trying to convince herself as much as she used to, but there was an occasion when she'd just flip through the blank pages of her own Death Note, wondering if she was just insane. Now, she had confirmation that she wasn't. The girl inside the diner was talking to Rem, so that concluded that she could also see Rem. That meant Rem was real, which meant Katherine hadn't gone crazy. For Katherine, she wasn't sure if the fact that she wasn't insane was very comforting. All this did was give her reason to believe that it would be impossible to prove the true identity of Kira. She couldn't tell the team that she had seen the second Kira. How would she explain it, that she knew it was the second Kira because there was a seven foot tall spook standing behind her? That would have made her sound completely irrational. Sure, she could tell Light, but it wouldn't do much good to tell the first Kira who the second Kira was. What was really strange to Katherine was how familiar this girl looked… she supposed she should ponder over it later.

* * *

"Rem?" Misa said quietly inside the diner, so no one could hear her but Rem. "Isn't that the girl who was on television on Sakura TV?"

"_I believe it is_," Rem said.

"But… but I can't see her life span or her name, which means she has a Death Note, right?"

"_If you could see her name but not her life span, then it would simply just mean she has a Death Note. This means she both has a Death Note and it is impossible to kill her with one_."

"I don't want to kill her!" Misa said, astounded. "If she's who I think she is, I think that we were in our last year of high school together. But she's got her hair different than the other day, I think she's disguised. Everyone thinks she's L, so she's probably worried that if the second Kira saw her and couldn't kill her, then the second Kira would kill whoever she was with. If she has no real name, I can't tell whether it's her or not, but she used the name Katherine-something in school. She was really nice, I wonder why she doesn't support Kira, too… unless it was an act and _she's_ Kira…

"Do you know which one of them is Kira, Rem?"

"_I don't think she is,_" Rem said. "_If I'm not mistaken, she's been a Death Note owner for longer than Kira has been around. I can see the other Shinigami, but I can't tell who he's following._"

"There's a boy there that doesn't have a life span, either," Misa said. "Is _he_ Kira?" She giggled. "He's _cute_. He's so serious-looking, though… and his name… Tsuki Yagami? He has such a strange name." Misa stood up. "Let's go home. I don't have to risk going to Note Blue now."

Once at home, Misa immediately fished her laptop out from under her bed. She did a web search on that Tsuki Yagami guy to find out more about him. Once she found out where he lived, she could meet him and tell him she was the second Kira. He didn't look like a bad person, so she was sure he'd be happy to have her help him. She found more about him on the Touou College website. As it turned out, his name was actually Light Yagami.

"Hey, that's cool!" she said. "The Kanji for his name is 'Tsuki,' but it's read as 'Light.' It also says he got first place in the national tennis tournament for second and third year students durring middle school, and he's the student commencement speaker this year for Touou University. There isn't a picture of him, but it has to be him, I don't think anyone else has a name like his. I never thought Kira would turn out to be so handsome…. I'll be able to find out where he lives soon, then I can go see him."

* * *

After how badly Katherine had ended up embarrassing him at both Aoyama and Shibuya, Light had decided to disregard her existence outside of meetings, which she found highly amusing. She had, after all, only been playing the role she had assigned to herself to avoid suspicion on the part of the second Kira. She knew she hadn't avoided suspicion, but she couldn't tell anyone about a Shinigami she had seen floating behind someone. The only person it would make sense to would be Light, and he'd want to know who it was. On the twenty-fifth of May, the Kira investigation team was in a meeting at the hotel room headquarters to discuss the surveillance of Aoyama and Shibuya on the two dates.

"There wasn't anyone suspicious found durring the trips to Aoyama and Shibuya," Aizawa said. "That just leaves the Tokyo Dome on the thirtieth."

_I didn't see anyone holding a Death Note in either place…_ Light thought. _Is the meeting place really supposed to be the dome? I should probably ask Katherine_…._ If she can see Ryuk, she might have been able to see the imposter's Shinigami. But then, that would practically be admitting that I'm Kira, which is probably exactly what she's been waiting for. She might even have a bug on her so she can record it when I do say it. There's no doubt that she's smart enough to consider that…_

"Ryuzaki," a voice said suddenly from the laptop sitting on the end table next to L, "there is another package to Sakura TV. According to the stamp, it was sent on the twenty-third. I'm sending the video now."

The badly drawn letters that they had grown to recognize all too well appeared on the computer screen. They were accompanied by the equally amateur voice distortion.

"_I have found Kira. Thank you everyone at the TV station and the police station._"

Katherine glanced over at Light. He appeared to be trying to remain calm, but he had a faint air of nervousness about him. He was probably wondering how the second Kira had figured out who he was. Katherine somehow doubted that Light's Shinigami had ever mentioned anything about Shinigami eyes to Light, except the cost of the trade. Indeed, that was all Katherine knew. Since she had seen Rem, though, and how the girl Rem was following seemed to be confused between Katherine and Light, she knew there had to be some way to tell. Katherine halfway wondered if Rem had told the girl about whom Katherine was, what Death Note she had picked up. More than anything, Katherine couldn't get over how familiar the girl had looked. That was strange, considering she barely knew anyone in Japan.

"He's found Kira already?" Matsuda said. "That's bad…"

"Yes…" Yagami agreed. "So they've already joined forces…"

"Unlikely," Katherine said airily. "'Found' doesn't mean the same thing as 'met.' This means she knows who Kira is, but probably hasn't met with him yet."

"At least, they hadn't 'met' before this package was sent," L said.

"Right," Katherine said. "Or they wouldn't have used the word 'found.'"

"Since we've gotten this far," L said, "we need to use our policing influence to bait the second Kira."

"'Bait?'" Matsuda said.

"Use some incentive to lure her into telling us who Kira really is," Katherine explained. "You're with the police, you should know that."

"If the real Kira still doesn't know who the second Kira is, the second Kira may respond to the trap," L said.

"It'd be impossible to bribe her with no sentencing at this point…" Katherine said, scratching the back of her head. "But, I think we could say 'if you tell us who the real Kira is, then we'll be more lenient on you, and you will be a hero to the world.' Something like that."

"And quickly," L said. "It's 7:25. Asahi-san, could you try to get it on the news at 8:55?"

"I'll handle it."

Katherine looked over at Light. It was getting hard for him to hide his frustration, and his Shinigami couldn't have been much of a help with his laughing.

"_This is turning into the worst possible situation, isn't it, Light_?" he said, still laughing. "_Just remember. We can trade eyes at any time._"

Light half-glared at the Shinigami for a moment, but not long enough for anyone but Katherine to notice. He was close to being cornered into admitting his identity as Kira. If the imposter turned herself in, then she would be able to tell them who he was. He didn't know who she was yet, so he couldn't stop her. It seemed like it would be an impossible escape. However, Katherine had an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach that this battle was far from being over. Since this new Kira had Shinigami eyes, she could get L's name. If Katherine didn't get it first, that meant that he would be killed, which wouldn't be good at all for the Kira investigation.

For the first time in days, Katherine's cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out and checked it, still listening to the meeting. There was a text message from Pat's cell phone number. Her heart pounded as she opened her phone and found her inbox. She opened the text message and read: "_It's happened. Call soon._"

Katherine looked up at Light from over the edge of her phone for a moment, and then shut her phone. She stood up.

"Spy bussiness," she said, holding up her phone as she walked towards the door. "Be back shortly."

She walked out the door, trying to keep calm as she called Pat's phone. He answered after a few rings, sounding more shaken than anything.

"H-hello?" he said

"It's me," Katherine said. "I got your message."

"It wasn't a heart attack," he said quietly. "It was suicide."

Katherine's heart jumped. "Wh… what?"

"He had talked us into going down to the store to pick up a six pack, we'd just run out of beer. We came back and he had shot himself, and there was a note lying on the table."

"Note?"

"Yeah…" he said. "It was really weird, there was a sentence per line of the paper –"

"Scan it," she said quickly. "Send it to me. I'm in a meeting right now."

"So you'll get back to us on it later –?"

"No, immediately," she said. "This… I'm not happy about it, I'm not happy at all, but this _is_ a breakthrough. Al wouldn't have…" She swallowed, trailing her sentence off. "At least, not without being controlled, he wouldn't…. I need to see the note. It could be important. If it leaves a clue that Kira did it, we have proof he can kill with methods other than heart failure."

"You think Kira would have left a clue in it…?"

"He left three notes that spelled out the message 'L, do you know reapers only eat apples?' It's not a vital clue that would make any sense, but there's a chance. So send it, please. I need to see it."

"A… all right, I'll do it now. Do you have any way of receiving it?"

"Laptop," she said. "Just send it via email. I know how to erase all evidence when I'm done, so there's no risk."

"You're… alright, then?"

She sighed. "No…" she said quietly. "As long as I'm working, though, I can ignore that I'm not. This case… it's personal now. I won't let Kira get away with _this_. I'll be lucky if I can restrain from strangling Light Yagami when I go back into headquarters."

* * *

"_So it looks like I turned out to be a murderer after all, but…  
I'd rather take my own life than give Kira the pleasure of doing it.  
Hell awaits me for suicide, but I'll be waiting there for Kira to give him what he deserves.  
That gives me reason to die happy.  
Now is the best time to get this over with.  
It's certain I'll die, anyway, and I'd rather it be less painful than a heart attack.  
Will you keep going after Kira?  
Let me say just that I believe we can handle this.  
L is the greatest detective in the world, and Katherine knows enough about Kira to win hands down.  
It's enough to give me hope, at least, that Kira will be killed.  
When, I don't know.  
And I don't know how he'll be caught, either.  
Right now, I only know that it __will__ happen.  
I do know, though that Kira will be killed, and it will be them to take him down.  
Kira is a force of evil that must be stopped._"

The team was gathered around the laptop that Katherine had checked her email with. She had opened the letter and quickly read over it before working on finding any sort of secret message. She rotated the scan to the right and drew her finger across the first letter of each line, left to right.

"'Kira Will Win This,'" she read. She scoffed. "Kira's an idiot. Using the same method of coding as on the last letters. He probably knew we'd figure it out, but this is a pitiful attempt at a scare to us. If he thinks _this_ could unnerve anyone, he's probably the daftest serial killer I've ever heard of."

However," L said, "this proves that Kira can not only control the circumstances of death, but he can also control the cause. It was already proven that he could control the circumstances to a fine point with the nonsense letters that he made the prisoners leave with an empty clue about 'reapers', but this seems a little more serious. It is doubtful that the second Kira would have left this note, because no details about those letters were ever released to the public."

"This means that Kira knew that this criminal was connected to me, as my name – or my most used alias, at the least – was mentioned directly in the suicide note. This means that Kira knows who I am." Katherine said. "That leaves a fifty percent chance that I know the person whose alias is Kira, which means there's about a thirty-five percent chance that everyone in this room might as well. And if that's so," she continued on slowly, "then there's a fifteen percent chance that someone in this room is Kira."

This brought a deathly silence amongst the investigation team, leaving almost everyone in the room silently wondering who it could possibly be.


	11. Chapter 10: False Accusation

After Katherine's "fifteen percent" accusation, the atmosphere of the room became a little more apprehensive. It was a terrifying thought, that someone in that room could be Kira. Up to that point, the most likely culprit, if it had to be someone on the team, would have been Katherine. The only person who remotely suspected Light was L, even though the chance seemed small. Katherine had no reason to suspect anyone, because she knew well who it was. Having experienced a loss firsthand now, she wanted more than anything to be able to tell the team that Light Yagami was indeed Kira and to present them with evidence that would prove this accusation true. Unfortunately, she had no evidence that could even possibly convince them. She knew she had to seem less likely now, since it was one of her best friends – one of her _only_ friends, who had been killed.

Regrettably for Light, he hadn't foreseen this type of reaction. He had been certain that she would wait to look at the note until she was alone. Her unpredictability made it hard for him to have anything going against her. She had taken her best friend's death not with remorse, but with a stronger thirst to have Kira terminated. All he had really done was throw gasoline on the already burning fire. He thought that the remorse of the death of one of her only three friends would weaken her, but it hadn't. One thing was for sure; he definitely wouldn't underestimate her again. From just this, Light was sure L's suspicion of him had gone up.

"If Kira hadn't left us with a message this time, I would have been inclined to believe that maybe this wasn't Kira's work," Katherine said. "He was too proud to let himself get killed by Kira, so I don't doubt this would have happened after a while anyway. However, because of the message…"

She half-glanced over at Light, a look in her eyes evil enough to make the devil himself cringe in fear. Thinking fast to turn the suspicion off of him, he decided to speak.

"How do we know this isn't a trick?" Light asked.

"What are you implying?"

"Well," Light said, "we've never even met these 'spies' that are supposed to be working on our side. So, we don't know anything about them. We don't know much about you, either. This could easily be a trick."

"Again," Katherine said, now through gritted teeth. "_What are you __**implying**__?_"

"That you could be tricking us into sympathy so we don't believe you're Kira."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "So you don't believe you know enough about me to trust me?" she said. "I can assure you, if I knew any more, then I _would_ tell you, by all means. I could give you the name of the orphanage I was imprisoned in, but it's not like it would do you any good. They have no records of me."

"That's convenient…" Light said skeptically. "That way, we can't prove if you were ever there or not. Do you even have proof you ever lived in Ireland?"

"No, I don't," she said icily. "I know _very_ little about my past, I've said that loads of times. Yes, of course, that's the perfect cover for me to be Kira, but with all of these accusations, Light-kun, I see absolutely _no_ viable physical evidence, which means you're better off shutting your trap for all the good it's doing. The most it'll get you if you keep on is a broken nose."

"I might not have any evidence that you're Kira, but you don't have any evidence that you're not, do you?" Light said.

She looked at him. "My friend – who may as well be a member of my family – just blew his own brains out under the orders of Kira. Do you really think I could lie about something like that?"

"Well, you _were_ keeping awfully calm," he said. "Generally, that's not an expected reaction out of someone who's just lost a 'family member.' Even if he is dead, Kira _is_ the type of person who would probably kill their own family to avoid suspicion."

In one quick motion, she slammed her fist on the table and stood, starting towards Light. She instantly found that she was being restrained. She struggled.

"Let me _go_, I'll beat his fucking face in!" she yelled.

Light stood and backed away slightly. She elbowed the two that were attempting to hold her, getting one in the ribs and the other in the stomach. She managed to break her arms free at this. However, she didn't move forward. She did look back behind her.

"Didn't you ever teach this boy his manners?" she said to Yagami. She looked back at Light before he could respond. "I'm warning you," she said coldly, pointing at him. "I'm _warning_ you. _Never_ accuse me of something so heinous as _this_. You think I'd kill my only friends just to avoid suspicion? If I _was_ Kira and I did that, I'd turn myself in and ask for the most painful execution possible. If you decide to do that again, your face will look like a Picasso painting by the time I'm through with you." She picked up her cell phone from next to the computer. "And before you start on me about how Kira got his name," she added, "because I _know_ that's going to be next now. He was dumb enough to go outside without his face completely uncovered. The police spotted him. His name and face have been on the news as one of Ireland's most wanted serial murderers. Now, it should be on the news that he's died soon enough. If you'll excuse me, I need to go call my other two spies and tell them about the message encoded in the letter."

She walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

* * *

On the night of the twenty-fifth, Misa was looking at Light Yagami's home address that she had written down from the college website, wondering how she should go about visiting him. After all, he had no idea who she was. That would make it little hard just to pop in to say "Hi, I'm the second Kira, nice to meet you." She did want to meet him, but she had to think of a way to do so.

She had been absently listening to the news playing on her television since it came on. However, something suddenly caught her attention. It was a 'preliminary alert' from the police, targeted towards the second Kira. Misa looked up at the television screen and became a little more intent on listening. If the police had something to say to her, it might be interesting.

"_If Kira still doesn't know who you are, then it's not too late,_" an electronically modified voice was saying. "_You can turn yourself now and reveal to us who Kira is. If you meet him, he will only use you and kill you when he's finished. Think of the lives at stake. If you act now, we cannot promise you a full pardon for the people that you murdered, but we will soften your sentencing. Kira is a murderer, and if you know who he is you can be a hero to the world by stopping him, and save hundreds of lives._"

Misa stood up, having made a decision. Five minutes later, she was walking out the door with her purse in one hand and Rem following her.

"_Where are you planning on going?_" Rem asked her.

"To turn myself in!"

Having memorized the address, it was easy to get there. As it turned out, it wasn't very far from where she lived. It was definitely within walking distance. She made it to the front door about ten minutes after she had left to find the house. Rem looked down at her, confused.

"_You're turning yourself in… here_?" Rem asked as Misa rang the doorbell.

A teenage girl answered the door. She had to have been Light's younger sister. She looked confused to see anyone there that as late as it was.

"Good evening," Misa said. "I'm Misa Amane. Raito-kun forgot his note at the University, so I came to bring it to him."

"Umm… ah… Onii-chan's… please wait here for a second."

From upstairs, Light had heard the doorbell ring. He had mostly ignored it. It wasn't usual, but he was busy. However, he heard his sister's voice next.

"Onii-chan!" she said, probably from the bottom of the stairs. "Your friend came to bring you the note you left at the University!"

"Note…?" he said to himself vaguely. "Th… that's impossible…"

He hurried downstairs to see what was going on. A rather short girl with blond hair in two ponytails stood at the door, wearing a black corset, a black skirt, and large amounts of fishnet. Around her neck, there hung a silver rosary. Could _this_ have actually been the second Kira? If so, Light was somewhat inclined to agree with Katherine's psycho fan-girl theory. It had seemed funny at the time, but….

"He… hello," she said. "I'm Misa Amane. I thought you'd be worried, after watching the broadcast on TV, so I came here." She took a black notebook out of the bag she was carrying with her and handed it to him. "This book…"

He took it and examined the cover. On the front were two clear words: Death Note.

_Death Note…?_ he thought to himself, looking at it. _Then that means…. _He looked up and spotted it. _Shinigami… so she is the imposter._

"Come in…" he said. He needed to talk to her. She was the only way that he might possibly be able to kill L.

"Eh? You're letting me in?" she said in a surprised, excited sort of way. "Yay!"

He shut the door after her and walked into the main room, where his mother and his sister had curiously been peering out at the entryway.

"Mom, she came all the way here, please make us some tea?" Light said.

"Ah… of course," she said. "Welcome," she said to Misa.

"Is that Onii-chan's girlfriend?" Sayu whispered to her mother, watching the two of them walk upstairs. "But I can see her panties!"

"N… no, I don't think… stop joking, Sayu…"

Misa sat down on the computer chair in Light's room. He sat on the bed. She was definitely a worry. She didn't seem smart enough to ignore the warning from the police, but was she really? It could be very troublesome. There was definitely no doubt that it was her, and that she knew exactly who he was. She probably hadn't gone to the police yet, seeing as the 'bait' had just been played on the news. Was 'Misa Amane' even her real name? If it was, that was definitely being reckless….

"How did you know?" he asked Misa.

"I didn't think you had Shinigami eyes!" she said. "With those, you can see peoples' names, but you can't see the life expectancies of anyone who has a Death Note."

Light half glared back at Ryuk, who scratched his head.

"_I didn't know __**that**__,_" he said, sounding genuinely confused.

"_She's telling the truth,_" Rem said. "_She couldn't have known it was you in Aoyama otherwise. I also tried to get her not to, but she told you her real name. She doesn't seem to want to lie to you._"

"There was someone else in Aoyama," Light said. "Someone who I think has a Death Note."

"She does," Misa said, nodding. "She has a Death Note and I can't see her name. But she goes by Katherine something, right?"

"Y… yeah," Light said. "Lynton."

"That was it!" Misa said. "She came to my high school for both our senior year last year. She's really nice, do you know why she doesn't support Kira?"

"N… no. I was asking, how did you know she wasn't Kira?"

"Well," Misa said, looking at Rem. "Rem said that she didn't think that Katherine was Kira, but I don't know."

"_She's had her Death Note for three years,_" Rem said. "_Kira has only been around for one year_."

Light looked back at Ryuk again.

"_I didn't know that!_" Ryuk said defensively. "_I'd only have known if she had my Death Note._"

Light rolled his eyes, wondering vaguely why his Shinigami wasn't anywhere near as knowledgeable as this one was.

"_I didn't give her that Death Note,_" Rem said. "_I did give her its instructions, but since it didn't belong to me, it wasn't my job to follow her._"

"She's still a threat if she doesn't have a name…" Light said. "You realize that if you are arrested, all of Kira's secrets will be spilled, don't you?" he added to Misa.

Misa looked away for a moment, her eyes wide. She then looked back at Light.

"I won't get arrested," she said. "Not as long as I do everything you tell me to. Right? Plus, I can see L's name. I can be your eyes." She looked at her knees, her cheeks growing red. "So…"

"So?"

"Please let me be your girlfriend?"

Light heard Ryuk's amused laugh issue from behind him. He ignored it.

"That's not possible," he said. "There were far more security cameras in Aoyama on that day. Your face will have been recorded. If we're seen together, then they'd recognize you from that day as the second Kira and me as Kira."

"This…" Misa said, opening her bag up. She pulled out a picture. She handed it to Light. "I was in disguise. Me and Katherine – the one you were with that was in disguise – she gave me that advice. If I was ever in any trouble with anything and I absolutely needed to go out in public, I should do it completely disguised. I figured that the police would increase security, so I wore a completely different outfit, no make-up, glasses, and that wig. I'm really careful."

"_She's right_," Ryuk said, laughing as he looked at the picture over Light's shoulder. "_You can't tell it's the same person._"

"Then…" Light said, looking up as he handed her back the picture. "Explain the fingerprint on the envelope that the tapes were in. You have the same fingerprint as the one found on that package. If the police compare fingerprints, then you'll be confirmed as the second Kira."

"That wasn't my fingerprint." Misa pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows, looking rather offended. "I'm _not_ stupid, you know. When I was still in Kansai, I had this friend who liked ghost stuff. So I made a few ghost videos to show her. I let her send the video to the TV stations, and through her, I got labeled envelopes and ten cassettes. Then I rerecorded the tapes with the Kira image and the sound."

"Where's your friend now?" Light asked.

"I can kill her right now if you want me to," Misa said quickly. "If you still don't believe me…" She took her Death Note back out of her bag and held it out to him. "You can take this Death Note for safe-keeping. Since I'm not giving it to you, it's still in my possession, so I still have the eyes." She looked at Rem. "Right?"

"_Yes_," Rem said, "_but your Death Note will be hidden somewhere that only Light Yagami knows._"

It was easy enough to tell that Rem had no trust whatsoever in Light. That left Light at a disadvantage, since Misa had a Shinigami on her side.

"This way, I can't kill you, but you can kill me when I'm not useful anymore, and the police won't find it on me if I get arrested."

_Why is she going this far…?_ Light wondered, taking the Death Note she was holding out. _It just doesn't make any sense…. Is she just trying to trick me?_

"How do I know you didn't already tear out a few pages to keep for yourself?"

Misa stood up, a hurt look in her eyes.

"I'd never even think to do that!" she said defensively. "You can check if you don't believe me. Why are you still doubting me? Besides, it's useless for writing names of anyone you don't want to kill, right?"

"Yes," Light said.

"I don't understand why you don't trust me…" Misa said, tears clinging to her eyes. "I'm satisfied just being used. I mean it."

"Why're you doing this?"

Misa sat down on the floor, staring at her feet.

"A year ago," she said, her voice shaking, "a robber killed my parents right in front of me. Since I saw him, the police caught him, but he wasn't convicted. I wanted to kill him, but I knew I couldn't do it. Then in the papers one day, it said he had died unnaturally of a heart attack. Kira had avenged my parents' deaths when I couldn't…"

"However," Light said, "didn't you kill innocent police officers? Is that really any different from what the robber did to your parents?"

Misa looked up at him, her eyes wide. "H-how can you say that? You've had to sacrifice, too, you know it's necessary! I was only doing the same thing. It was the only way I could think for you to learn that there was another person…. I just wanted to meet you…"

_So she did all this just to meet Kira?_ Light wondered. _She thought of counter strategies for everything along the way. She's not as dumb as she seemed. She also said she'd obey my orders…_

Misa had taken to staring at her feet again as she sat on the floor. She was almost certain he wouldn't trust her. That was something she hadn't expected. However, she was completely taken by surprise when moved down to the floor with her and put his arms around her.

"I understand…" she heard him say quietly. "You gave up half your life to get those eyes to help me… you'll be my most powerful weapon. Even though I can't force my feelings, I'll try my best to be your boyfriend."

She smiled. "Thank you…" she said. "And I'll try my best to become someone you'll really like."


	12. Chapter 11: Eyewitness Evidence

Misa sat back down in the rolling computer chair. As Light was standing, she looked up at Rem.

"Rem told Misa that your Shinigami's name is Ryuk?" Misa said. She looked at Light. "Can Misa see him?"

"Uhh…" Light said uncertainly. "Sure. Turn around for a second."

"Okay!"

She turned the computer chair around. Light reached into his back pocket to take out his wallet. He took a small piece of paper from his Death Note out of one of the smaller pockets and touched it to Misa's hand.

"Okay," he said, putting it back in his wallet and putting his wallet back in his pocket. "You can look."

"Okay!" she said, spinning the chair back around. She looked up at Ryuk. "Wow! You're a Shinigami, too, but you don't look anything like Rem. I heard your name was Ryuk. Nice to meet you."

"_Yes… nice to meet you too._"

Misa looked at Light, smiling. "So, does Light know how to kill a Shinigami?"

She giggled at the shocked looks she was getting from both Light and Ryuk.

"Wait," Light said. "'Light?' Are we on first name terms already?"

Misa smiled. "If 'Light' isn't okay, then is 'Knight?' That's what Misa has always wanted to call her prince charming!"

Light shook his head. "Light's fine."

"'Kay," she said. "Well, does Light know how to kill a Shinigami??"

"No."

"Well, you can only kill a Shinigami by making it fall in love with a human. Rem told me that a Shinigami has to like a human enough to save their life in order to die. If a Shinigami likes a human who's life is who's life is being threatened, and the Shinigami kills the person who's threatening them, then the Shinigami dies because it lengthened the life of a human. But if the Shinigami just kills the person who's being a threat without liking the person that's going to be killed, then it won't die, because it wasn't doing it to save anyone else from dying. Right?" she asked Rem.

"_Yes_."

"So," Light said, "then if a Shinigami kills with the intention of saving another human, it dies?"

"Yeah," Misa said, nodding.

"_I don't think any Shinigami would do that,_" Ryuk said.

"Yeah," Light said, looking back at Ryuk. "You definitely never would. Can I ask a little more about the eyes?"

"Yeah," Misa said. "What do you want to know?"

"First, can you see the name and life expectancy of someone from a photograph or video?"

"Yeah."

"How much of the face do you need to see in order to see? And how much does the face have to be concealed for you to not be able to tell?"

"Hmm…" she said, looking around. "It's really simple…" She reached back behind Lights computer and took a sheet of paper. "I'd have to draw it, though…" She picked up a pencil and made a quick sketch. "See, if you can see the eyes, like in these, then it's enough. If you can see the whole face, though, you don't need to be able to see the eyes – like if the person's wearing sunglasses like right here. But if a lot of the face is concealed, you can't tell. You can only tell if you can see the person's face straight-forward. If the person's wearing a mask or something, then you also can't tell. It's not drawn very well, but it's easy to understand," she said, looking up at Light. "Do you need to know anything else?"

"Where did you go to send the videos?"

"Oh," she said. "Umm… First Osaka, then Tokyo. The last one was Nagano. I took the subways to random places to mail them out."

"Do you still have tapes and envelopes with your friend's fingerprints on them?"

"Yeah."

"Make one last message tomorrow, then," he said. "Then dispose of anything you haven't used. Let the message say, 'If Kira finds me, I know he may use me and then kill me. So, I won't use his name in public anymore. Thanks to the police for the suggestions, but I still want to help Kira and get Kira's approval. I'll start by punishing the criminals that Kira hasn't yet. Also, I'm willing to share my power with anyone willing to help us. I want to change the world for the better.'"

"Share my power?" Misa asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"That will cause panic for the investigators," Light said. "Since there are already two people with the power, it would be best to worry them about how many more there could be."

"Oh!" she said in realization, her eyes widening. "That's really smart!"

"Will you do it?"

"Of course," Misa said. "You don't have to ask me to, just tell me to go do it and I will. Misa will do whatever Light tells her to –"

"There's one more very important thing," Light said. "If you ever get arrested, you must _not_ say anything about the other Kira or the notes. The notes are in my hands, but if they catch you, don't give them any ideas. Can you promise that?"

"I promise! So," she said, "those are the conditions I have to follow for our relationship to last?"

"Y… yes… basically."

"Then I have a condition, too!" she said cheerfully. "We have to go on a date once a week."

Light shook his head. "Impossible."

"Wh… Why?!" Misa demanded promptly.

"I haven't told you, so you don't know yet…" Light said. "L already suspects I'm Kira."

"He… he _does_?" she said. "Wow, he must be smart. All you ever hear anyone talking about is how dumb he must be since he can't find anything about Kira…"

"And the girl you said you went to high school with."

"Kat?" she said.

"Yeah. She can see Shinigami, which means she knows I'm Kira already, and she'll also know you're the second Kira if she sees Rem with you."

"Oh…" she said. "That's not good…"

"She can't tell the team anything," he said. "She's on the investigation team, but they'd think she was insane if she said anything. She's still a problem in this situation, though. I've been in contact with L already because of the suspicion."

"Kira and L in contact?" she said excitedly. "Both sides are amazing…. So exciting…"

"The team suspected that she – Katherine Lynton – was Kira, too, but it's doubtful that they do now. One of her friends was just killed by Kira, and now they probably pity her. L was the only one who suspected me. He's worried that I'm Kira, but he thinks he'll be safe as long as he keeps his real name hidden. Because he can't prosecute me without evidence, however, I managed to talk him into letting me join the investigation team."

"So… all Light needs to do… is bring Misa to see L?"

"It's not that easy. The security where L stays is always extremely tight, and no matter where he goes, he never leaves any pictures of himself behind. And if I suddenly take someone there without reason after Kira has supposedly met with the second Kira, then that someone will be suspected of being the second Kira and I'll be suspected as being the first. It would also be hard to believe we've built a trusting relationship with as short a time as we've known each other. Do you understand?"

"N… no, not really…" Misa said, looking a little sad. "But basically, we can't date because it will raise suspicion?"

"No," he said. "It means I need to find a plan for you to see L's face without him seeing you. The situation here is exactly the opposite of that. We'll need to see each other frequently to terminate L, as I'll need your help."

"That sounds better!" Misa said, smiling.

"However, in order to suppress suspicions, I'd have to see other girls –"

"No!" Misa said. "I don't like _that_, if I see Light with another girl I might end up killing her!"

"Come on, Misa," Light said, putting his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him with a pouty expression on her face. "This isn't a game. It's a mission to change the world. Both our lives are on the line here."

"Yes," she said, "but compared to the world, Misa likes Light more…"

"What are you saying? You said you were Kira's supporter in the beginning."

"Misa wanted to meet Kira because she was grateful…" she said, looking at her knees. "But after seeing Light…"

Light sighed. "You said 'Misa will do anything Light tells her to.'"

"That's different from not wanting you to date other girls!!"

Not seeing any other way around it, Light used his last resort. "Misa," he said, "both of the Death Notes are in my hands. If you don't listen to me, I can kill you."

"_I won't allow that, Light Yagami_." Light looked up at Rem, completely alarmed. "_If you try to harm this girl, I will kill you. I'm completely aware of her life expectancy. I'll know if she dies before her time, and I will not let you kill her before that time is up. If you make any plans to that I find out about, you will be killed._"

"If you use your note to save her, _you'll_ die," Light said.

"Yeah!" Misa said, looking at Rem with wide eyes. "You'd die, too."

"_Yes_," Rem said. "_I would. But, that is fine with me._"

The room fell silent in the moment. Light wondered how he could get around the threat from Rem. It seemed impossible to be able to avoid it. She was a Shinigami, and he was just a human. By definition, Shinigami may as well have been gods. In a battle of human versus god, then the god would be sure to win, wouldn't it? Now he had both a nameless orphan and a protective reaper to worry about. There seemed to be bad luck no matter what way he looked at it.

A knock at Light's door broke the silence. "Light, may I come in?"

"What is it, Mom?" he said.

She opened the door. "It's already 11:30," she said. "There won't be any train to catch if she doesn't leave soon."

"Ah, that's right…"

"Thank you for the reminder, Mrs. Yagami," Misa said.

Downstairs, Misa said goodbye to Light and his family. Light's plan almost came to a snag with a suggestion from his mother.

"Light," she said, "it would be polite if you'd walk her to the station."

Light looked at Misa. _That's not a good idea… if we're seen, then there would be suspicion…_

Misa, seeing the look on Light's face, smiled as she walked out the door. "I'll be fine," she said. "It's not that far. Bye, thank you for being so nice!"

They watched her walk down the road.

"She's such a cute kid," Light's mother said.

"Yeah," Sayu agreed. "At first I thought she was a little… but, anyway, she seems really nice."

* * *

"Pause it there."

"Why?"

"Oh, forget it," Katherine said, taking the remote from L and pressing the pause button.

The tape was from Aoyama on the twenty-second, from the security cameras the investigation team had set up everywhere. Katherine and L had been reviewing every tape of the incident. This tape was around the tenth or eleventh they had checked. Katherine had stopped the tape at a shot showing the inside of a small diner. Katherine pointed at a girl sitting at a table. She had short black hair, glasses, and was wearing a school uniform. She could see the Shinigami in the video standing behind the girl, but L obviously couldn't. It would make it a little harder to explain things that way. However, as Katherine had finally figured out how she recognized the girl, she was sure there would be some way to prove this girl was the second Kira.

"That girl," Katherine said. "She's in disguise. I went to school with her last year, we both graduated the same year. So, it would make no sense for her to be wearing a high school uniform like that, unless she were in disguise because she had something to hide. I once told her the simplest way to avoid the police if she had to go out in public – if she ever needed to – was to go out in disguise. I didn't quite recognize her in Aoyama, but I'm sure it's her. Her name's Misa Amane, she should be easy enough to find online, and from there, it should be easy enough to find out her address, as she does small bits of acting and modeling now and people need some way to contact her. Now, the time in the corner there," Katherine continued, indicating the red numbers in the corner of the screen. "That was about five minutes before we walked past that diner."

"Right."

Katherine played the tape, and then pressed the fast-forward button on the remote. She played it at regular speed at about five minutes later. "Watch her reaction carefully."

Her expression went from one that seemed rather bored to one of extreme focus, then confusion. She looked up and to the side slightly and spoke, as if talking to someone. She then looked back out the front window. She spoke again after a moment.

"Either she's talking to herself, or she can see something no one else can," Katherine said. She laughed. "In a case like this, I think both theories are just as likely. But, I do think _that_ was when she spotted Kira, as she left only a moment after we would have walked past the shop. That means Kira was amongst the group of people we were with, and she had some way of being able to tell. I think it would be wise…" she added slowly, "not to let Light Yagami know about this. After his… _reaction_ to the suicide note my spy left, I believe he might be Kira. I think he found out I was connected to him, then killed him under the belief that it would make me stay off of the case for a while."

"She could easily find Light on the college website," L said. "That means she could also find his address and go see him, but it's questionable as to whether or not she'd be enough of an idiot to do that. If she sends another video, I'll be able to analyze whether or not she has met with Kira."

"Well," Katherine said, sitting back in her chair, "if she's still the same as she was in school, then she would _definitely_ be enough of an idiot to do that. I blame myself slightly for her managing to be evasive. She had a tendency to follow me around last year when she found out that I was interested in the Kira case, because she was a Kira fanatic. She found out I was doing my own investigation and started pestering me about it. Odds are, the fingerprints aren't hers. That was another piece of advice I gave her back then. _Never_ leave fingerprints behind, that's just asking to be prosecuted. They probably belong to a friend."

"It's still impossible to erase all evidence," he said. "Once Aihara-san finishes analyzing the envelopes, there may be fragments of hair and other things on them, which is just as good evidence as a fingerprint."

"Definitely," she said. "I doubt she'd be careful about that, knowing her. She could be smart occasionally, but not usually."

"How long had you suspected Light-kun to be Kira?" L asked.

"Hmm," Katherine said. "Quite a while. As I said, I was tracking the FBI agents. While I know an eyewitness account isn't enough to confirm anything, I can tell you that Raye Penber was on a bus that was hijacked by a man that had robbed a bank three days before."

"Alright."

"And on that bus, he showed someone his ID."

"What?" L said quickly, looking away from the television screen. "He did?"

"Yes," she said. "That day, he was tracking Light Yagami, who he followed onto that bus. Light was with someone from his school, and when the hijacking took place, he wrote something down on a piece of paper and held it up for her to see. Penber saw it as well and told him it was too dangerous. Light said 'My dad's a police officer, he's taught me how to handle these situations.' Penber said 'Fine, I'll back you up, then.' Light said that unless he saw Penber's ID, there was no way he could know that Penber wasn't an accomplice. So, Penber was forced to show him. After that, the scrap of paper Light had written on fell on the floor 'accidentilly'. He made an all to obvious move to pick it up, the hijacker spotted him, and came to the back where Light was seated. The hijacker picked up the paper, but before he could say anything, he looked at the back of the bus and freaked out about something no one else could see. He fired all the shots in his gun at whatever it was, then demanded to get off the bus. The bus stopped, he got off, tripped, and was slammed into by an SUV. That was three days before the FBI agents were all killed. Light decided he wanted to avoid the police questioning about the incident, so him and the girl left the bus to get a taxi."

"The girl on this tape seemed to think she was talking to something that was there," L said, looking back at the television screen, where the image was still paused. "Could it just be a coincidence?"

"I don't know," Katherine said. "But it's interesting enough. It definitely made me consider the possibility that when the second Kira mentioned the word 'reaper' on the tape, she could have been speaking on more literal terms."

"If you witnessed the bus incident, why didn't you mention it before durring the investigation?" L asked suspiciously.

"And get my head bit off by Asahi-san for incriminating his son?" she said with a laugh. "_No_ thank you." She put her hands behind her head and stared up at the ceiling, crossing her legs. "All I've really been doing is playing along with the whole thing and releasing clues for the investigation occasionally. I was planning on staying in the shadows to do my own investigation, but I want Kira to be caught. In all honesty, I know for a fact that Light Yagami is Kira, and I'll take any and all actions that I can possibly take to prove it."


	13. Chapter 12: Matter of Trust

"You know for a fact it's him?" L said. "How?"

"I have indirect evidence," Katherine said. "Nothing anyone on the investigation team would believe, of course. In a case this odd, the evidence is destined to be odd as well. While I couldn't prove it to the team in a thousand years, I'm just happy knowing I solved the case myself."

"So then, you won't tell me what evidence you have, I'm guessing?"

"If I come to the conclusion that you trust that I'm not Kira and that I'm not working for Kira, then I will."

"I –"

"Your word won't be convincing enough proof of it, by the way," Katherine said. "I'm going to need viable evidence of it."

"Like what?"

"Hmm… let me think for a minute."

Katherine had taken the situation exactly where she had been planning to take it. She would indeed show L the evidence she had against Kira if he trusted her enough with one piece of information that no one else – except _possibly_ Watari – knew. This was the only way she could see to trick him into telling her his name. That way, she would be able to use her own Death Note to keep Kira or the second Kira from killing him with either of theirs. The situation was perfect; if he didn't give her his real name, then she wouldn't give him assurance that he was right through the entire Kira case.

"How about," she said slowly, "your real name."

He looked back at the television screens, biting his thumbnail. Was this more reason to believe that she was Kira, that she was attempting to trick him into giving her his real name? If she was Kira and he did give her his name, he would be killed. If this was just a matter of confirming trust, then he would have evidence against Light Yagami. What evidence was it, though? Was it really that crucial? He would have to find that out first.

"First," he said, looking back at her, "what evidence do you have?"

"Well," she said, "I know how he kills, for one. I also know all the little traps that he has set up outside his door, so if it's necessary to prove it with any more than the evidence I have, then I could have cameras set up in his room."

"Why my name?" he asked.

"It's perfect proof that you don't believe I'm on Kira's side," she said. "If you have even the slightest suspicion that I'm on Kira's side, then of course you won't give me your name. However, if you believe that I am completely devoted to the downfall of Kira, then you will. It's simple and easy to understand."

She had quite a few doubts that this method would work as she watched him think. He was a sore loser, much like Kira himself was, and giving his name to any person would be a sort of failure for him, just as showing his face had most likely been. After staying in the shadows for such a long time, things were finally starting to come into light, probably much faster than he had ever planned them to. She knew he still had to be suspicious that she was Kira, but there was at least a fraction of a chance that this might work.

"How about you show me one piece of evidence first?" he said.

"No," she said with a sigh. "That means you won't trust me until you have evidence against Light. Can't have that."

_Damn_… he thought to himself. _This means I may have to in order to see this evidence… if she's not bluffing about it, that is. If she's not Kira, then she has no reason to need my name, does she? Light was at least right about the fact that we have no idea where she came from. She doesn't seem like she could be Kira. She values friends above all other things, so she definitely wouldn't have killed one of them… of course, if that was just an act as well… that makes things even more confusing… if I do die, then there are people who can take my place, but in a case like this, I'm determined to put an end to it. If there's no other way to get this evidence, I may have to tell her my name._

"How do I know you're not bluffing?"

"Well," she said, "that's where the whole 'trust' thing comes in. If you can trust me enough to give me your name, then you should be able to trust that I'm not bluffing, shouldn't you?"

"It's difficult to trust someone that no one knows anything about."

"I knew that was going to come up," she said. "I could tell you the name of the orphanage I did time at, but there's no way to trace me to it. I was just another Jane Doe in that place. It was in a town called Newmarket-on-Fergus. When I escaped, I moved to the other side of the country – the eastern side – to a town called Trim. There's a really nice castle there," she added thoughtfully. "I know that none of this could possibly be proven without evidence, however. I'm fully aware of that. It's as I've said before. In the eyes of the law, I may as well not exist. And so, I understand if you can't trust me. I'm not saying you should or you shouldn't. I'm merely saying that if you do decide to trust me, I can show you evidence that Light Yagami is Kira. It's not a matter of facts, seeing as there aren't any about me."

She knew he wouldn't agree to her terms if he was asking so many questions that she couldn't answer. However, the contemplative look on his face made her somewhat hopeful that maybe he would give in to the request. She couldn't yet tell him that if he did give her his real name, she could keep him living until he died of natural causes. Not even a Shinigami could kill him. She'd done the same already for everyone else in the investigation team. Now he was all that was left…. After a few minutes, he sighed.

"Fine," he said. "You win. Whatever information you have better be enough to compensate for this. My real name _is_ L. L Lawliet."

_Yes!_ she thought to herself, barely managing to suppress a triumphant cheer. _I win and Kira loses! Now he can't kill anyone on the investigation team._

"Then," she said, picking up her bag and walking over to where L was sitting. She sat on the table in front of that chair and pulled a black notebook out of her bag. "If you trust me, then you will believe this. If you don't, all you'll need to do to believe it is to look at the television screen and – not yet!" she said, laughing as he started to look around her to see the television screen. "And they said you were smart…" She shook her head and handed him the notebook. "This is Kira's weapon."

"A notebook," he said blankly as he took it from her. "Hmm."

She stood up and moved out of the way of the television screen. "Now look at the screen and tell me if you notice anything different."

He looked up, clearly not expecting much of anything to have changed. That made the sudden appearance of the beast standing behind Misa Amane all the more frightening and strange. His eyes widened and his mouth opened a little at the sight of the thing. He stared at it for a while before regaining the ability to speak.

"R… reaper?" he said uncertainly.

"Exactly," Katherine said, taking a seat back at the table. "That notebook your holding isn't exactly like the ones that Kira and the second Kira have used. I'll start by telling you the common rules, though.

"Basically, if you see one of these lying on the ground and you pick it up, it becomes yours. Once a Death Note lands in a human world, it belongs to that world. However, whatever Shinigami – meaning reaper, they're just technically called Shinigami – dropped it will have to follow the person who picked it up. That's one rule.

"The notebook itself, now. If you write a name in the Death Note while knowing the face of the person whose name you write, that person dies in forty seconds of heart failure. If you specify the cause of death, the person will die of that. Once you specify the cause, you will have six minutes and forty seconds to manipulate the actions the person takes before they die. For instance, you could have someone hi-jack a bus, then jump off and get struck by a vehicle and die like that. The only way to get rid of the Death Note is to tell your Shinigami that you would like to forfeit it. Once you touch a notebook, you can see the Shinigami it belonged to. Those are the primary rules. Following?" she added, seeing the blank look on his face.

"Yes…" he said. "I was expecting something strange with the Kira case, but this is just incredible."

"Yeah," Katherine said. "I can definitely agree there."

"What are the different rules for that one?"

"This one," she said with a smile, "is special because it didn't belong to just any Shinigami – it belonged to the king of their world. With this notebook, you touch it and you can see every Shinigami in the human world. They don't know you can see them unless you walk up to them and say 'hello,' though. Like most humans, they can't read minds. The greatest thing about this note, however, is that I can keep people alive with it. By writing a name down on a page of this Death Note, it gives me forty seconds to change my mind, basically. I can either wait out the forty seconds and let them die, or I can tear the page out and burn it. That also makes the person whose name was on said page invincible to any other Death Note, be it one in the hands of a human or one in the hands of a Shinigami. Aihara-san, Matsui-san, Asahi-san, and Mogi-san have already been made immune, because I knew their _real_ names. That's the only reason I was being stubborn about it. It requires sacrifice on my part as well," she continued. "If I save one life, it takes a year off of my life. Another ability this Death Note has is that when you do kill someone with it, it adds a year to your life. I could never think of killing anyone, though. While I don't know how many years I have left, I'm going to have faith that it's more than one for the sake of the investigation, seeing as I don't want anyone to get killed."

"How does this prove Light Yagami has a Death Note?"

"When he comes here tomorrow," Katherine said, "his Shinigami will be with him. They aren't allowed to leave the humans that they are bound to by the Death Note."

"Then why don't you have one?"

"Mine's too busy lording his power over another world to come visit me," she said, glaring at her Death Note. "Lazy son of a bitch….

"What's really coincidental about all this is that the second Kira's Shinigami is the one that told me about the rules of the Death Note. I had doubted my sanity until I saw that girl talking to that particular Shinigami. Now I know I'm not insane and that just makes things even harder because I was hoping there would be an easier solution to this case.

"Any more questions?"

L thought for a moment, and then looked back at the television. "Do they really only eat apples…?"

"I don't think all of them do," Katherine said, laughing. "When I've seen Light before, though, I've seen his following him around begging for an apple as though he were trying to get cocaine from a drug dealer. I think that was around the time the team had his house filled with cameras. He couldn't eat apples, then, as all that those watching would have seen was an apple disappearing into thin air. Poor thing went through apple withdrawal, it was absolutely pitiful."

"This is going to be a really hard case to prove if this is true," L said, shaking his head. "I can see the Shinigami, but I don't know if I want to believe it's there."

"It is," Katherine said. "No point in denying it. You'll be even more inclined to believe it when Light comes back. His Shinigami is a right side scarier than the second Kira's, I'll warn you."

"Scarier than _that_?" he said, looking at the television screen as she stood, taking her bag to the other chair. "Is that even possible?"

"Yeah," Katherine said. "You'll also hear him talk now, too. He's really quite a smart ass, and you'll be relieved to know he's not on anyone's side. So, Light doesn't have a reaper on his side, just one that's following him around because he finds this whole Kira mess amusing. Now."

She pulled a lighter and a pen out of her bag, opened the notebook, and tore a page out of it. She walked back over to the table and sat down at its side.

"You'd best be telling the truth about your name," she said, "or your life will still be threatened by Kira. I'm not going to ask if you are or not. There's no way of telling if this works or not, the only way to tell will be if Kira kills you. I know it does work, though. If that bastard Al had just given me his real name, he wouldn't have died, but it's too late for that…"

_If she's telling the truth, then she's taking a year off of her own life just to save mine…_ L thought to himself, watching his name be written on the piece of paper. _There's no way she can be Kira if she's keeping us from being killed. She could be lying, but I don't think she is for some reason_…._ With as much acting as she does, I shouldn't trust her, she could be killing me right now, but I still do trust her. Why?_

Katherine quickly crumpled the paper into a ball, set it in an empty cup, and held the lighter to it. With a click of the lighter, the paper was burning.

"I'm mostly inclined to believe that this works because the even if part of the paper remains after forty seconds, the person whose name is written on it doesn't die," she said. "I admit, not proudly, to testing it on someone else before I used it to help the team. If it hadn't worked, then that person would have died. I hate that I did that, but I didn't want to end up killing anyone on the investigation team after the loss of Usata-san. That would have been horrible. I'm not like Kira in that sense. In fact, I'm the exact opposite. If I were to kill a single soul, I'd never forget it. Even if it were a complete accident, I'd never forgive myself. Kira is a brutal serial killer, he's the only person whose life I could take without feeling a bit of remorse. Which is why," she said, reaching back to the chair and retrieving her Death Note, "I need someone else to hold on to this. Someone who wouldn't write Light Yagami's name in the note, even though there is a one hundred percent chance of him being Kira. Given enough time, I know I would. That's why I can't keep it. My spies both know about Kira, who he is and everything, so they wouldn't be able to hold on to it, either…"

"That could definitely be a problem," L said. "If Light Yagami dies of a heart attack, people will believe it was Kira's doing."

"I know," Katherine said. "That's why I have to do this." She turned to face L and held the note out to him. He looked at it, seeming rather incomprehensive about what she was implying. "Here," she said, holding it out a little further. He slowly reached forward and took it. "You trusted me with your name," she said. "I know that barely anyone knows your name, so I definitely trust you with this. This way, even if I were Kira, I couldn't kill you, as I've just given you my weapon. However, it's only in your possession. By the rules, it belongs to me until I forfeit it. If you ever write down a name, it adds to my life. If you ever burn a name, it takes away from it. So basically," she said, "my life is bound to that Death Note. Will you hold onto it for me?"

_Is she serious…?_ L wondered, looking at the cover of the notebook. _If she is, then she's definitely __**not**__ Kira. Kira would never give up something like this just to avoid suspicion. I can understand why she doesn't want to hold onto it; killing Light Yagami would leave the case unsolved. But I don't see why she wants __**me**__ to hold onto it. She's basically entrusting me with her life by doing this, and I barely trusted her enough to give her my name. And if Kira ever got his hands on this notebook and found out its secrets, he could kill her. If Kira is Light Yagami, he definitely wants to kill her by now. He could do that with this… if he got his hands on it, she'd die. I can't let that happen. I'll have to hide it somewhere no one could ever find it._

"Please," Katherine said quietly, her eyes wide with hope. "There's no other way to ensure that Light Yagami will be caught and sentenced fairly. I'll kill him if that stays in my possession. As Kira, he used Al's death as nothing more than a taunt, knowing full well that he wasn't a real murderer, _and_ that he was my friend. He was only doing it to try to weaken my will, to make me feel like it was really my fault, and it worked…. For that, I want him dead. I want to be the one to kill him, but I really don't want to destroy the entire case with my own brash actions. Killing him would be a temporary solution, but it would leave his Shinigami in charge of that Death Note again, and he'd just drop it again to amuse himself, which would start the whole thing over again. I have low self control when it comes to things like this, which is why it should be in the hands of someone who won't act recklessly. So keep it, and don't give it back to me until Light Yagami has been executed by the law rather than anything else. Please?"

Slowly, he nodded. "I will."

She stood and walked around to the side of the chair. Completely alarming him, she bent down and looped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you," she said faintly.

"Y… your welcome."

She let go and walked back over to her chair. She picked up her bag and sat down, leaving him with the same sense of confusion that she always left him with.


	14. Chapter 13: Humans Are Strange

_Sorry for not updating this for the past week. I know I normally update once or twice a day, but I've been busy with other things. I lost a lot of focus on my guitar playing when I started writing this, so I was focusing more on that again for a bit… and I also wanted to finish reading the Death Note manga before I finished this, since I sort of stopped reading it for a month after part of it ticked me off (which was the reason I decided to rewrite it in the first place, haa)._

_But, I'm getting back to it again. So, for those who've been wanting me to update, sorry for taking so long :)_

* * *

Light sat at his computer, checking the internet to make sure Misa had completely covered her tracks. If she had any personal profiles set up online for anything, she could be a dead giveaway. She said she knew Katherine, which meant that Katherine may have recognized her. That meant with a quick web search and a little hacking, it would be quite easy to find out where she lived. If Light was smart enough to hack into the police database, then he could easily figure out Misa's location through hacking. Katherine probably could, too.

The second Kira was a problem that definitely wasn't going to be very easy to get rid of. Misa definitely wasn't very smart. She could be easily tricked into giving up who she was. She hadn't been smart enough, even, to give Light a fake name. As Rem had said, she apparently did not want to lie to him. Rem only made matters worse for Light. Rem was a Shinigami who was perfectly willing to die to save a human. The only way she could have possibly been any more menacing would be for her to side with Katherine as well as Misa. That was extremely doubtful, but it wasn't a very pleasant thought. It would be best just to keep that idea out of his mind.

On the search, Light spotted something troubling on the very first page of results on his computer. He clicked up the link. He gave an irritable groan, resting his forehead on one of his hands as he looked at the page. Apparently, Misa Amane was a small time model for teen and beauty magazines. That meant she'd be even easier to find. Her parents' deaths were also discussed right on her webpage. If the second Kira had been someone any dumber than Misa, then he would have killed them without even thinking about the consequences. However, as Misa had Shinigami eyes, he still needed her, as unfortunate as that was. Since he needed her, he was going to have to find some way to keep the fact that they had met a secret. By the next morning, Light had managed to think of a fairly simple way to keep quite a few people from knowing anything.

"Morning, Onii-chan!"

Sayu greeted Light in the same lively way every morning when he sat down at the table. He said good morning back, but he had a little bit more to say.

"Mom, Sayu," he said. "Could you do me a favor and not tell Dad about Misa?"

"Of course," his mother said.

"Why?" Sayu asked curiously. "Ooh. Yeah, he's kind of old-fashioned, isn't he…?"

"… Not just that," Light said. "Don't mention it to anyone. She's actually a model, and if word gets out that she had a boyfriend, it'll be troublesome."

"She is?" Sayu said excitedly. "Wow! Of _course_ I'll keep it a secret… if you give me five thousand yen!"

"Sayu!" their mother scolded her.

"_So that's how you're going to keep word about her from getting out_?" Ryuk asked Light. "_Wonder if it will work._"

_It should work for now…_ Light thought to himself.

* * *

"Good timing," Katherine said as she heard the hotel room door open. She saw no point in looking back, as she knew Light was the only other person allowed in the room.

"Huh?"

"We just got another message from the second Kira," L explained.

"Another one?" Light said. "The frequency of them is starting to get a little annoying, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Katherine said, "but apparently, this ought to be the last one."

Light stood behind L's chair as he hit the play button on the remote. Standing behind them were Matsuda, Aizawa, and Yagami. Light was eager to hear if Misa had done what he had told her to do. If she said everything he had told her to say on the tape, then maybe he could trust her not to get caught a little bit more.

"_I won't use Kira's name in public anymore. Many thanks to the police for the suggestions they gave me. However, I still want to help Kira, and to have his approval. I'll start by punishing criminals he hasn't. Also, I will share my power with anyone who wants to help us. I hope that this will change the world for the better._"

_Perfect,_ Light thought to himself, suppressing a grin. _Maybe I can rely on her to keep from being caught._

"After seeing this," L said, shutting off the television and setting the remote down, "I believe the first Kira may have already contacted the second."

"Wh… why would you say that?" Light asked.

"You don't think so too?" L said. "Hmm. I figured you would."

He took a doughnut from an open box on the table.

"Well, see," Katherine said, "if you look at the last messages, you'll notice she's been talking about meeting the first Kira. Didn't say anything about that in this one. Also said she wants to get approval by punishing criminals that Kira hasn't already. That either means that she didn't think that before – unlikely, if I might say so – or that she has already met Kira and he instructed her on what to say to avoid any suspicion, which doesn't seemed to have worked out very well for him."

"Kira probably also told this one to keep the fact that they've met a secret," L said.

"I see," Light said. "Then Kira made a reckless decision."

"Kira _is_ reckless," Katherine said. "If he had any sense, he wouldn't have killed Lind. L Taylor, and would have realized that to be a trap in the first place, and we still wouldn't know that he was in Japan."

"This also decreases the chances that you're Kira," L said to Light.

"What?" Yagami said. "How is that, Ryuzaki?"

"If Light-kun were Kira, he wouldn't have told the second Kira to send that kind of message. Instead, he would have told the second Kira to force me to appear on TV. If there aren't any signs of the first and second Kira meeting, then he could blame my death on the imposter."

"'Even though I would have stopped if the real Kira told me to, I don't think the other Kira message was real anymore. L's death would make Kira happy. So, I see no reason to stop.' That's what you would have told her to say if you were smart," Katherine said. "And if you were Kira, of course."

"If I were Kira, I wouldn't do that," Light said. "I know L's personality too well. He would never actually show himself on TV; he'd find some way around it. He would never sacrifice himself."

"Light," Yagami said. "Even if it's hypothetical, do you have to say things like 'If I were Kira?'"

"Sorry, Dad," Light said. "I was only saying what I thought. The faster we can find Kira, the faster we can prove that I'm innocent. Besides, saying things like 'If I were Kira' only shows that I'm not. You worry too much."

Ryuk cackled from behind Light. "_But you __**are**__ Kira_," he smartly.

Katherine glanced over at L; though he showed no reaction to this, it was certain that he had heard it after touching the Death Note. That was as good as a confession, but an invisible being saying aloud that Light Yagami is Kira wouldn't be solid enough of a testimony to hold up in the face of the law, or in the face of Light's father for that matter…. However, it was definitely real enough for anyone who could see this Shinigami.

"Well, I would hope that Light-kun isn't Kira," L said. "He's the first friend I've ever had."

"_Wow!_" Ryuk said in surprise. Katherine managed to keenly disguise a laugh as a cough. "_Bet you weren't expecting that, eh, Light?_"

"Well, I also consider you a good friend," Light said, barely managing to hide his initial look of complete shock.

"Thank you."

"It's been boring since you don't come to class anymore," Light said. "You should come to lectures more often."

"Of course. After this case is over with, I'll start coming back. Hopefully that day will be soon."

Despite the fact that the entire thing was a lie on both of their parts (Light was doing it to take suspicion off of him, L was to make Light think he wasn't as suspicious as he really was), it was quite hard for Katherine to resist _Awww_-ing at the absolute cuteness – after all, what other word could there have possibly been to describe it? – of the dialogue. It was even harder to resist laughing. She wouldn't have been surprised if her face was red for having to hold her breath to keep herself from doing just that.

* * *

It had been a while since Katherine had left headquarters, or even slept. That was her excuse to leave headquarters that night. She was really only leaving to follow Light out and put into play a plan she had been working out in her head. She hadn't gotten any approval on the plan from anyone in the team, nor had she told anyone about it. However, if she could somehow find a way to get Light to admit to being Kira and have it recorded, she was sure that _had_ to be evidence enough to convince the team. She definitely wasn't about to admit to having her very own Death Note; that would have been a little awkward of a situation. It would have been hard to tell them "Kira kills with a Death Note" when she herself had one – they would have immediately suspected her more. So, Katherine made up her excuse later that night just to follow Light out. She caught up with him in the hotel lobby and started working on her plan.

"Just so you know," she said quietly, causing him to jump in surprise, "I'm on your side."

"Wh… I don't know what you're talking about."

"I bet the Shinigami does," she said, nodding back at him. "I'm not bugged. I'm not trying to get a confession. I'm only stating that you have no reason not to trust me."

"You did try to jump me," Light said. "Isn't that enough of a reason not to trust you?"

"Ask Misa Amane about me," she said. "We went to school together. She knows a lot about me with as much as she followed me around."

"If you're on my side," Light said quietly, "then why did you speak out against Kira on public television?"

"I knew who L was," she said. "I needed a way to get on the investigation team. I figured that would be the best way to get on, to profess my devotion to bringing the downfall of Kira. Everyone here knows by now that I'm a good actor. That's common knowledge, isn't it?"

"Yes…"

"L still strongly suspects that you're Kira," he said. "I would suggest that you don't let yourself be seen in public with Misa Amane, as he is also now suspicious of her as being the second Kira. I have to give him a little bit of information occasionally, or he'd stop trusting me. I noticed her in Aoyama, but I didn't say anything. I'm sure she recognized me as well."

"She did," Light said. "She mentioned that."

"Good," Katherine said. "When did you first meet?"

"She came to my house last night," he said. "Can you see her Shinigami too?"

"Yes," Katherine said. "That was the same Shinigami who explained to me the rules of my Death Note."

"You –"

"How the bloody hell else would I know that you 'ave one following you?"

"Right," Light said. "It's Ryuk, by the way."

"Oh," she said. She looked back at the Shinigami. "Nice to meet you, Ryuk. Now," she continued, "Misa's Shinigami is called Rem."

"I already know," he said, opening the exit door. Katherine followed him and Ryuk out. "She insists on trusting me. She even gave me her real name, and she's left her Death Note in my possession. She said she did it so that I could kill her, but she couldn't kill me. Then Rem said she would kill me if I tried to hurt Misa."

"Eh?" Katherine said, surprised. "That's insane. Damn. My Shinigami won't even leave their world. Lazy son of a bitch. Ryuk, you familiar with the King of Death?"

"_Yes_," he said.

"I've got his old note," she said with a laugh. "I've never had the pleasure of meeting him. As I said, he won't even leave the Shinigami world. He's an old geezer, isn't he?"

"_Pretty much_."

"Thought so."

"How long have you had yours?"

"Bugger…" she said. "What's it been, three years now? Picked it up off my driveway back in Ireland. Though I'd gone mad when I looked up and saw Rem standing… er… _hovering_ there."

"So that note lets you see _all_ Shinigami?"

"Yeah," she said. "And you can't see it, no. I'm not as dumb as Misa is."

­Light definitely thought she seemed sincere enough. Was it possible she really _did_ support Kira? If that was so, she could be a big help against L. L seemed to trust her well enough, which meant she might even be able to get his real name. If she had a Death Note and hadn't killed Light himself yet, then that was a good sign. That was definitely a good sign. She might be willing to kill L for him, even. There was still the risk that L had sent her to spy on him. Could this be an act as well? She had done so much acting in the past that it was hard to tell when she was telling the truth now.

"If you support me," Light said, "is there any chance of you getting L's name?"

"I'm already working on it," she said. "He's a hard one to convince, but I think I can manage it. I'm going to head back up. Make some excuse as to why I decided not to leave. Maybe I've decided to stay because half way down the road, I realized I don't want to go until the case is solved. Something along those lines. See you later, Light-kun."

He glanced back over his shoulder at her, then looked at Ryuk. He looked ahead as he walked and spoke quietly.

"Think she's telling the truth?" he asked Ryuk quietly.

"_How should I know?_" Ryuk said, shaking his head. "_Humans are strange._"

Light glanced back at him. He laughed. "I thought you said humans are interesting?"

"_That's what makes them so interesting._"

* * *

L looked down at the front of the hotel from the window in his own room as Light walked off with his Shinigami tailing him. Katherine's sudden decision to leave was strange. That meant she was definitely planning something. There was no telling what it was, trying to read her intentions was a useless waste of time. Because of this, however, the chance that her plan would work was at a high percentage. Light could tell the objectives of most by talking to him, but she wasn't as easy to interpret as most. There was a chance that her "acting," as she so often referred to it, could win the entire case.

There was a loud knock from the door. The team, who had been examining the newest Kira tape again, looked at the door all at once. L walked to his chair of choice and sat down again, reaching onto the table in front of him for a half eaten bar of chocolate.

"Oi!" Katherine's voice issued from the other side of the door. She knocked loudly again. "I'm back!"

Matsuda walked over to the door and opened it. "You said you were going home."

"I realized that I'd probably stay up all night working on the Kira case anyway," she said walking in around him. "I highly doubt I'll sleep again until the whole thing's solved." She stood at the computer that most of the team was sitting by. "The tape again? It's not going to change."

"Yeah," Aizawa said. "Now what're you planning?"

"Hmm?" she said, raising her eyebrows. "What're you talking about? If I were planning something, I'd inform the team first."

"You don't just leave and change your mind."

"Yes I do," she said. "I just did. See? I'm not heading home, so presumably I've changed my mind about doing so."

"I mean, it doesn't make any sense to."

"I don't care," she said. "You've been accusing me since I started working on the team. If it is preferred that I leave the investigation, then I will do so, but that means my help would no longer be available. You'll have to find yourselves another grade A liar if that's the case. But if I do leave, I'll be kidnapping Mattie here," she said, nodding sideways at Matsuda. "Seeing as how it would just be rude to leave my brother with a bunch of people who think he's an idiot."

"What…?"

"You weren't in Aoyama, you wouldn't understand…" she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "So. Do I stay or go?"

"No one's leaving," Yagami said. "And there won't be any kidnappings."

"Unless it's required to help with the case," Katherine said with a nod.

"Hopefully it won't come to that."

"It may," L's voice said from behind them. "We may have confirmation on who the second Kira is."

"What?" Aizawa said. "How long have you had confirmation?"

"It's not definite," Katherine said, "and it may be a long shot, but based on reactions to unverified events in Aoyama on the twenty-second by random people, it may be someone called Misa Amane." She split herself from the group to walk back to the box of tapes from Aoyama. She kneeled down by the tapes and began looking through them. She took one out and examined it, and then she held it up. "Number twenty-six. This should be the one, taped the inside of a diner in Aoyama. Misa Amane is on this tape, talking to something or someone that is apparently invisible. She also acts strangely about halfway through, then leaves after. It's not solid… but it is interesting."


	15. Chapter 14: Completely Useless Pondering

_Disclaimer: please view whatever chapter has a disclaimer on it. I think it was the first chapter or the prologue, but I'm not sure. So, I don't… like… "own" any Death Note characters or anything I used in this story -cough-exceptL-cough- so don't sue me please._

_Anywho, more importantly. I'm really grateful to all of the people who have been commenting. So I say this: thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!_

_Also thanks to all of the people who have added this to their favorites/alerts._

_This is the only remotely popular story I have on here. I've been amazed since I got over ten comments and over 500 views :p_

_So, thank you all again, especially those who comment on every chapter. That's just awesome. Thanks guys, you all rock._

_If I slow down on my updating on this story due to my other stories, I'm sorry. If I don't work on them all at the same time, then I'll forget the track I was on with them. I have short attention span issues, I apologize for this. Aaaanywho again, here's chapter somethingoranother :)_

* * *

"How did you figure out who it was so fast?" Yagami asked.

"More importantly, why didn't you mention it earlier?" Aizawa said.

Katherine sat down on the couch with her legs crossed, leaning forward to put the tape in the player. Without looking back at the team, she spoke.

"Watch the tape. Your questions will be answered in a minute."

The rest of the team gathered around the televisions, sitting in the arrangement of chairs. L took his normal chair and watched the video at a faster than normal speed. Katherine was fast forwarding it to the important part, apparently, as she had the remote and an impatient expression on her face. She looked around at the team.

"It could take a minute," she said. "I'll point out a few important things at the part when the girl walks in. Ah," she said. "There's the one. She's in disguise, by the way."

"How do you know?" Matsuda asked.

"We were in our last year of school together," Katherine said. "I gave her unfortunate advice at random moments on how to avoid being arrested if she ever had to."

"Why?" Yagami asked.

"Because I tend to speak before I think sometimes," she said with a sigh. "Now," she continued in a more to-the-point tone. "Notice how she is sitting completely alone, yet she keeps glancing behind her and talking. She'll pause as though waiting for a response, and then speak again. It may be at a fast speed at the moment, but you do notice it, correct?"

"Yeah," Matsuda said. "Does she think someone's there?"

"It would seem like it," Aizawa said.

"We're getting to the good part now," Katherine said. "In a few seconds, she will react to something that we can't see on the cameras, if you notice…" Katherine played the tape at normal speed now. They watched as the girl jumped forward a little, looking out the front window. She said something. "If that's not a little strange, I'm not sure what is. I think it is possible that she had some way of recognizing Kira here. It is possible that she saw him through the front window."

"Hey!" Matsuda said, looking at the corner of the screen at the time. "Isn't that around the time we got to Aoyama?"

"If my calculations are correct," Katherine said, "that's exactly the time we would have been walking past that diner. I happened to glance into it as we were walking past. The girl struck me as familiar, and I put a lot of thought into it, and I realized who it was. She's really got blond hair and an obsession with Gothic Lolita clothing and accessories, and doesn't wear glasses. As I said, I went to school with her. She enjoyed following me around. I mentioned a lot of things that I had learned from my con artist friends at random on occasion, and I think she probably remembered quite a few of them. That means that the fingerprints on the envelopes she sent most likely were not her fingerprints."

"So that means she might have recognized you as you were walking past," Aizawa said.

"One, I was in disguise, and a damn good one if I might add. Two, why was she disguised in the first place?"

"What if it's her sister or something?" Matsuda said.

"Her sister wouldn't be in Aoyama," Katherine said. "Misa's and her parents were murdered by a robber who was later murdered by Kira. Misa looks at Kira as a god. She was so happy the day she saw his death in the paper that she wouldn't stop talking that day. She told me she believed it was Kira just like the news did and that she was in full support of Kira. She had supported Kira before that, but she became a devoted follower of him after."

"This…" Yagami said, "… this could be a good lead."

"But it means that of the group myself, Matsuda-san, and Light-kun were in, one of the people there had to be Kira, unless she simply recognized me. Now, that is unlikely, regarding the fact that after we had walked past, if you'll notice…" She played the tape up to where Misa left, "… she left the diner. That increases suspicion of me, but also of Light-kun. He is less likely than me due to the fact that his house has been surveilled before."

"Is there a reason you incriminate yourself so much?" Matsuda asked curiously.

"Well," she said, "it's mostly because while incriminating myself brings up suspicion, I know I won't ever be prosecuted because I'm not Kira."

"But we don't know that," Aizawa said.

"Right," she said, "but you will know when we catch Kira. Or maybe even the second Kira. She might be willing to blab, you know?"

"Unless Kira's told her to keep her mouth shut," Aizawa said. "If that's happened, then she probably won't talk."

"Yeah…" Katherine said with a sigh. "I'm ninety-nine percent sure Misa has met Kira by now. Knowing her, she _will_ do whatever Kira says. How should we go about catching her?"

"You said you knew her," Matsuda said. "You could get in contact with her, right?"

"I don't know," she said. "We haven't spoken since we graduated, I have no idea where she is now."

"It seems you have a better chance of finding her than any one else on this team does," L said. "Therefore, you will be in charge of contacting her."

"Eh, I can't complain," she said. "I was the one who said I preferred working on the battlefront rather than the base. Could be fun. I just hate thinking she's actually _that_ stupid. I know she's a total ditz from the time I spent with her last year, but this is beyond that…"

* * *

Katherine sat at a laptop in the headquarters hours later, pulling up page after page of information on Misa. She hadn't gotten rid of any of her websites. She was a small-gig model now, and she was a co-host of a late night talk show. She would be quite easy to locate from the looks of it.

"Good lord…" Katherine thought aloud from the other side of the hotel room. The team, who were discussing the best way to apprehend a suspect likely to be Kira so they couldn't kill without being noticed, all stopped their discussion and looked back. "Misa Amane. Part-time model, part-time talk-show host, full-time idiot. Her modeling profile for the agency she works for states her devotion to Kira. Right on the page. She even gave details of what happened to her parents and how Kira killed the criminal responsible. If she's the second Kira and she hasn't erased all of this, she must me mentally challenged."

"That's all on her website?" Yagami said incredulously. "Maybe there's a chance we have the wrong person, then. Anyone would have been smart enough to have taken that out of the view of the public eye if they were an accomplice to Kira."

"She looked too nerdy to be a model," Matsuda said uncertainly.

"Idiot…" Aizawa said, rolling his eyes at Matsuda.

"Yeah." She turned around the laptop for the team to see the page. "There she is out of disguise," she said, pointing at a picture in the corner of the screen. "She's not really very nerdy at all, as I'm sure you can see. She also has various pages on different social networking sites, where she also mentions how much she admires Kira. I still think she is probably the second Kira. She's never been very bright. Maybe this is a sore attempt to trick us, even."

"How so?" Yagami asked.

"By leaving up her claims of devotion to Kira," L said, "she could expect that we won't suspect her. We could easily find out when she had changed the pages, and also find out what they used to say. Perhaps she hasn't changed them because she wants us to think she doesn't have anything to hide."

"Right," Katherine said. "She wouldn't have gone changing the pages unless she _was_ the second Kira, right?"

"Right," Aizawa said.

"So if she leaves them the same…" Katherine trailed off, waiting to see if anyone else could finish.

"Then…" Matsuda said slowly, "I think this is right…. Then that would make herself seem less suspicious, because she might have guessed we'd be thinking 'the second Kira couldn't possibly be that dumb'…?"

"_Right_," Katherine said. "See?" she said, looking at Aizawa. "Matsuda-san isn't a complete idiot. However," she continued, "with Misa, it's more likely she just didn't think about it. This is completely useless pondering, as we basically have enough evidence just to take her in for questioning already just with the surveillance from Aoyama."

"Yes," L agreed. "Do you have an address yet?"

"Her mailing address only," she said with a sigh. "It's a post office box. She is a part time model, so leaving her home address anywhere on the internet could result in some major potential stalker issues. So, that means I'll have to think of some other way to locate her. I could track her by her IP address whenever she logs in to one of her web accounts."

"Couldn't you just send her an email?" Matsuda suggested.

"If she is the second Kira, she might suspect me to be working against Kira," Katherine said. "Despite how she used to follow me around and bug me all the time, she probably wouldn't meet me if I suggested it with all this second Kira bussiness, which means I have to conveniently run into her. That means I need to track her IP address. Seems like the best possible method as of right now, seeing as I blew the chances of meeting with her by email earlier in the case." She turned the laptop back around. "Sorry about that, by the way," she added absently.

* * *

"She's online now on MySpace…"

Katherine smirked from her seat on the floor in front of the laptop. She had obviously been waiting for something like this to happen for hours. She had started whistling the Jeopardy theme after only five minutes of looking, and she hadn't stopped. Her sudden cease almost three hours later had caused L to look back. The rest of the team had fallen asleep.

"She's just updated her page…" she mumbled

L's cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and checked to caller ID on its front. He pressed the send button and held it to his ear.

"Yes?"

Katherine vaguely listened to the conversation as she refreshed Misa's MySpace page. Her eyes widened. She couldn't help but allow herself a laugh and a grin.

"Misa, you idiot." She laughed again. "Light Yagami, you are going down."

"I see," L said to the phone. "Thank you, Mogi-san. Yes, please do that."

Katherine didn't notice the conversation had ended. She was more paying attention to the random dispersals of the phrase "Misa Amane Loves Light Yagami" all over her web page. Then the laptop turned around.

"Oy!" she said in aggravation. "That was important!"

"Mogi-san has been spying on Light Yagami for quite a while," L said, fishing around for something on the computer. "Apparently, ever since the twenty-sixth, his general activity durring and after school has changed drastically."

"Ever since the second Kira said she found Kira," Katherine said, moving around to the other side of the table that the laptop was on. "How so?"

"He started dating various girls all at around that time."

She laughed. "Light's a whore."

"Mogi-san has sent a file with pictures of them all," he said. "Will you be able to identify Misa Amane if you see her?"

"Most likely," Katherine said. "She pretty much sticks out like a sore thumb, anyway. These are the pictures?" She moved the lap top over and scrolled through them. "This is Takada something or another. She goes to Touou. This girl's name is Maya, she went to the same High School as Light. Don't know her. Or her. _Or_ her. Good lord, Light's a slut. Or her. Nope…" She got to the last picture in the file. She laughed. The blond hair, the chains, the fishnet, the five foot tall height – it was definitely Misa. She pointed at the screen. "Misa Amane. This is brilliant," she added. "When was Light last seen with her?"

"Tonight."

"Oh," she said, nodding. "Misa probably showed up out of the blue. Did Mogi-san give any details of what happened?"

"Yes," he said. "She basically snuck up on him, and Light-kun appeared rather irritated, but she followed him anyway."

"That means Light has previously told her that he can't meet with her in public often," Katherine said. "I'd expect her to do the same thing again, she's known for taking spontaneous action at inopportune moments. She may have something scheduled tomorrow regarding her job… if you can call anything that requires absolutely no thought whatsoever a 'job'…" Katherine minimized the file and brought up the internet. She went to Misa's modeling profile. She went to a page with her schedule. "According to this, she has a photo shoot for some teen magazine _tomorrow_. Very close to Touou University, and at around lunch hour. I bet anything she knows Light goes there. She'll probably stop by to see him."

"So that means we should have a spy there tomorrow…" L said slowly.

"So you go," she said.

"Me?" he said, looking at her oddly.

"Yeah," she said. "If you and Light-kun _miss_ each other so much." She laughed at the absolutely incredulous look L was giving her. "Besides, this way you can get him with something pretty interesting, then. Tell him that your life isn't in threat for being outdoors unless he is Kira, as he is the only person who knows who you are. Also," she added, "you should inform Yagami-san that if you die soon, then there is no doubt that Light is Kira. He would disagree, but there would be a suspect in that event. Obviously, I won't die unless Light shoots me in the face, so I'll definitely be going to the college tomorrow. I practically haven't left since Shibuya on the twenty-sixth. Compared to my previous methods of investigation, this isn't much fun at all."

"Your previous methods would have been a lot more hazardous for anyone else."

"Considering Light never knew I was following him, no they wouldn't have been."

"Speaking of following," L said, "what _are_ you planning?"

"Oh, right," she said, remembering what she had told Light when she followed him downstairs. "I told Light I was on Kira's side. I got tired of not being on the front lines, so now I'm going to be working as a sort of double agent occasionally. I I'll get him admitting to being Kira on tape, and I'll let the team hear it. If they won't believe anyone else saying he's Kira, then they may believe him admitting it under completely unprovoked circumstances."

"Or they might not," L said. "I have a feeling that unless he is caught killing someone, then no one will believe it."

"Well, if it comes down to it," she said quietly with a sigh, "then they may all have to come in contact with my Death Note. If they can see Ryuk following Light around, they might be a bit more apt to believe something's going on."

"Ryuk…?"

"That's his Shinigami's name." She laughed. "Told you he wasn't on Light's side. You heard him mention Light was Kira, I'm presuming?"

"Yes," he said, "but a Reaper's accusation isn't exactly the most solid evidence."

"That's true…" she said. "It does still show, however, that he isn't on Light's side. That Shinigami knows I can see him and hear him, and he still said that. I assume he dropped Light's Death Note in the first place because he was bored and wanted to see what would happen."

"So Reapers absolve boredom by giving humans weapons…" L said. "That isn't a pleasant thought at all."

"Not all of them do," she said. "Otherwise, people all over, not just criminals, would be dropping dead of heart attacks spontaneously. I think Ryuk's just a smart ass. Reapers live by killing humans and taking what's left in their life spans as their own. Makes them practically immortal. Odds are, he got bored with doing things like that and wanted to see what would happen if a human got a Death Note. Reapers just kill to live. A human would kill for other reasons, and he probably thought of that, and he probably wondered what those reasons were, so he decided to experiment."

"Apparently there is more than just the one like that," he said, biting his fingernail. "This Misa Amane also has a Death Note. You had their King's Death Note. Any other one could drop one, couldn't they?"

"Yes, but it's highly doubtful they would. Ryuk is… let's say _unique_. The Shinigami King dropped mine by accident because he's a stupid son of a bitch who never even visits me. I think a Shinigami would make a cool pet, but his ass is too damn lazy…."

"What about Amane's?"

"Rem," Katherine said, sounding puzzled. "Misa's Shinigami…" She shook her head. "I don't know what Rem's doing. Rem is a _lot_ more serious than Ryuk. Compared to Ryuk, Rem could be considered noble. I'll have to ask Rem if I come in contact with her any time in the future what the hell she was thinking."

"So," L said, "Light-kun's Shinigami didn't drop his note with the intention of him in particular picking it up?"

"I don't think so," she said. "He would have been happy with anyone. Since someone like Light picked it up, though, he's getting a good laugh out of it."

"And we don't know if Misa's Shinigami is on her side or not?"

"No," Katherine said. "Knowing Rem and knowing Misa, Rem may be on Misa's side. Rem, I think, has more of a sense of compassion than most Shinigami would."

"So we may have a Shinigami against us."

"Possibly. No one on the team can be killed, though."

"There's also no way to prove any of it to them."

"There's one way," she said with a nervous laugh, staring at her knees. "I don't want it to come down to them seeing the Shinigami, though, not like this. Everyone would be much happier if they didn't know about it unless they absolutely had to." She yawned. "I think I'll be getting some sleep before the infiltration of Toudai."

She stretched her arms out as she stood. She walked to one of the remaining empty chairs and fell sideways into it, her legs dangling over one of the armrests. Her last thought before drifting to sleep was how it was nice to finally have a friend with whom she could actually have an intelligent conversation.


	16. Chapter 15: Idiot

_Disclaimer: Same as always. You know it already. I own nothing and no one except original stuffs._

_I was gonna take time off this weekend from writing, __but I can't stop writing for more than five minutes._

_So here's the next chapter._

* * *

Katherine left early for Touou University, more than anything to keep on the lookout for Misa. After a review of the forensic evidence pointed straight towards Misa Amane, the rest of the team agreed without a doubt that this teen magazine model was the second Kira. L took Katherine's advice and went to the university himself later at around the lunch break when Misa was most likely to show up. With the forensic evidence to go along with the circumstantial, the team was completely cooperative. They would apprehend her for questioning if the opportunity presented itself. L had also been doing a bit of planning of his own. If she was the second Kira and she came in contact with him and then had to rush away, Light would call her immediately to get the name. If he took her cell phone without anyone noticing and Light called it, he would have at least more conditional evidence for the team.

Katherine was loitering at the most likely spot Misa would enter at lunch time, which was also around where her car was parked. If Misa entered there, she couldn't ignore the fact that Katherine was there with as much as Misa had looked up to her in their last year of high school. Katherine's reasoning was quite accurate, as it wasn't long before someone ran up behind her, giving her a tackling hug with a yell of "Kat!!"

"What're you doing here??"

Misa was as bubbly as Katherine remembered her to be. Standing beside Misa was a much taller, less humanoid looking figure. It looked to be built mostly of spinal chord, even its arms and legs. Its entire body was white, except its lips and a couple other small bits of its face. Its hair didn't look to be separated into strands, but rather into chunks. This figure was Misa's Shinigami – Rem. As Misa had no idea that Katherine could see Rem, she made no mention of this. Rem, however, looked very surprised to see Katherine.

"Just debating on skipping my last few classes," Katherine lied, crossing her arms and leaning against the brick building behind her. "I didn't think you went to college at Toudai, what're you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm not in college, I went right to work when I graduated," she said. "I'm a model now! This is my manager," she added, looking back at the woman on the cell phone. "I'm just cutting through here to go to a photo shoot. I'm hoping I might run into my boyfriend on the way through, since I think it's lunch right now."

"Oh?" Katherine said, walking alongside Misa as Misa started off again. "Anyone I might know?"

"I don't know," she said. "Do you know Light Yagami?"

"Just about everyone here does," Katherine said with a laugh. "He was one of the three freshmen representatives this year."

"Who else?" she asked.

"Umm, Hideki Ryuuga – not the pop star, he just has the same name – and me!"

"Wow!" Misa said excitedly. "I knew you were smart, but you're one of _Toudai's_ representatives? That's amazing!

"Heeeey," Misa added, "you were on television not that long ago durring the Kira broadcast, weren't you? I thought it looked like you."

Katherine laughed a little. "Yeah. The first police officer that got killed was sort of a friend of mine. I kinda snapped when I saw that. I've been wondering why I wasn't killed ever since. I suppose Kira really does need both a name and a face to kill. You know I don't have a real name, I told you about that."

"Yeah," Misa said. "That was supposed to be someone else with Kira's power, though, right?"

"Oh, yeah," she said, "definitely. This person could kill just by seeing a face, that's something Kira can't do. I'm reckoning that Kira and this new Kira have already joined forces, which could be troublesome for L, you know?"

"Are you L?" Misa asked curiously.

"Heavens, no," Katherine said, laughing. "You'd be surprised how many times I get asked that when I go out in public now, after that broadcast. It was all over the newspapers, I was amazed at that."

"I was just wondering," Misa said. "I knew you were really interested in the Kira case, and after that broadcast, I got kind of confused and – Light! There you are!"

They had just come up on Light, who was talking to L. Both of them looked back. Light looked positively shocked to see Misa there. L noticed Rem before he saw Misa or Katherine. Rem was very hard not to notice, after all. Shinigami in general were hard not to notice for those who could actually see them. Katherine kept herself from laughing at the look on his face that clearly said "_Misa, you idiot!_" Ryuk was standing behind Light. As he was unaware that L could see and hear him ­– and he probably wouldn't care if he did know – he didn't refrain from laughing at Light's expression of nervousness.

"I came to this area for a photo shoot," she said to Light. "I decided to drop by to see you since it doesn't start until two!" Misa looked at L. "Are you Light's friend? I'm his girlfriend, Misa Amane."

"Hideki Ryuuga," L said.

Katherine glanced over at Light. Though trying to keep his face straight, he had a triumphant gleam in his eyes for a moment. Misa, who had Shinigami eyes, could see L's real name, after all. This was a victory for Kira.

"Eh?" Misa said, her head tilting slightly to the side like a confused puppy. "Ryuuga Hideki…?"

"Yeah," Light said, his triumph suddenly turning to nervousness that Misa was about to blab something she shouldn't know. "He has the same name as that pop idol, isn't that interesting?"

Misa looked at L for a moment.

"Light-kun," L said, "I envy you."

Ryuk laughed at the now confused look on Light's face. "_Uh-oh_," he said mockingly. Katherine disguised a laugh of her own as a cough.

"I'm a huge fan of Misa's after the March issue of _18_!" he said.

_Ah_, Katherine thought, _an attempt at acting. Not a bad idea, but definitely not the best acting in the world…_

"Oh, really? That's great –"

She was cut off by a large group of students who had begun to surround them, all of whom apparently recognized Misa. Amidst the hubbub of Misa's fans, L managed to steal her phone, unnoticed by anyone. Katherine managed to back out of the crowd. She didn't much appreciate large crowds anywhere, so getting out of that was quite a relief. Rem, who was standing by behind the crowd, still looked somewhat confused, as she had since she spotted Katherine. Katherine cleared this up quickly as the crowd began to fizzle away. Misa's manager had just arrived.

"I can still see you," she said quietly to Rem.

"_I was wondering if you had kept the Note._"

"I figured that was it," Katherine said.

Misa's manager began dragging her off by her arm. Rem followed quickly. Katherine walked back over to Light and L.

"Maybe I should go to a lecture once in a while," L said to Light. "We're in the same psychology class next, right?"

"Right," Light said. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

They walked in opposite directions. Katherine followed L.

"Does the team know you're here?" she asked curiously.

"They're standing by to take Misa into custody. Aihara-san did an examination of more forensic evidence, and all of it pointed straight to Amane, so they've all agreed to this."

He took a ringing cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open.

"Hello?" he said. He waited a moment. "Helloo?"

The phone's volume was loud enough so she heard Light on the other end of the line. "Ryuuga," he said, "what're you doing?"

"I found this cell phone on the ground in the middle of the crowd before," he said.

_Or you took it from Misa's purse_, Katherine thought, refraining from laughing at the pink cell phone with various beads and other charms hanging from its antenna.

"Ah," Light said. "That's Misa's cell phone. I'll return it to her."

"Oh?" L said. "I see."

L took the phone back to where Light was standing and handed it to him. His cell phone rang next. He checked the front before answering.

"Hello? Yes. It's done? I see. Very good."

He shut his phone.

"For Light-kun, this is most likely bad news," L said, putting his phone back in his pocket. "Misa Amane has been arrested under suspicion that she is the second Kira."

"Really?" Light said. "I wouldn't have guessed that."

"She fits the role perfectly," Katherine said with a shrug. "Kira fanatic. As I stated early on, the second Kira was probably a younger female, judging by the way she spoke to Kira in her broadcasts. Looks like I've outdone you as far as profiling goes, eh? Anyway, I need to get back to my car. Don't much feel like going to my last classes."

_Dammit…_ Light thought to himself, watching her walk off. _If she would have just stayed for another minute, I could have gotten her to get L's name from Misa, she's sure to get there first in a car like hers. If she's going back to headquarters, they must have Misa somewhere near there, and L would definitely make sure they could contact her. Shit. Now it's almost like he never even showed up! Maybe… it seems L trusts her enough, she might be able to get his real name with a little acting. Then again, I'm still not sure if she's even on my side. I can't trust her to do anything until I know that. It's not like I can threaten to kill her if she doesn't have a name._

As Katherine got in her car, she couldn't help but wonder how L was planning on restraining Misa. If she was the second Kira, it had to be certain that she couldn't move at all. If that was the case, she hoped the rest of the team really _did_ agree one hundred percent that she was the second Kira. If they didn't, then they probably wouldn't agree to Misa being completely restrained.

Even though there was solid proof, Katherine couldn't believe that someone so lively as Misa Amane could be a killer. It was just strange.

* * *

"Ugh!"

Katherine put her elbow on the table the evidence was scattered around on in headquarters with a small _thump_ that made the table shake. This small movement knocked different bits of evidence out of their neatly arranged rows and papers out of their orderly stacks. Aizawa glared at her.

"We've been over the evidence a thousand _freaking_ times," she said through gritted teeth. "It's very simple. Who here doesn't understand it?"

"If there is _one_ hole in any of this," Aizawa said just as irritably, "then we're criminals. We had to kidnap Amane to put her in custody. Do you realize we could loose our jobs over something like that, or are you _really_ as stupid as you're acting?"

"Did you just call me stupid?" she said. "I'll have you know that _I_ was the one who figured out that Misa was the second Kira! Ah, I see, _that's_ why you're checking the evidence over and over again, you still don't trust me, eh?"

"Well, seeing as Kira is going to be someone who Misa knows and you _are _a suspect right now, no, I don't trust you entirely."

"Well _you're_ an ass, and I don't care if _asses_ don't trust me."

"Shouldn't we be… talking about evidence…?" Matsuda suggested.

"It's pretty_ obvious_ that there's _evidence_ against _her_. She's associated with Amane, idiot," Aizawa said.

"Don't talk to my brother in that tone of voice!" Katherine yelled.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Would you quit acting like two year olds for five minutes so we can get some actual _work_ done?" Yagami said.

"Sorry, chief," Aizawa said.

"He started it…" Katherine grumbled.

There was a sound of a lock clicking open. They all looked towards the door as L was walking in. He went straight to the lap top and spoke into the microphone.

"Watari, did she say anything?" he said.

"So far, nothing," an electronically distorted voice replied from the speakers. "She's not even complaining about being held up."

"'Held up'…?" Matsuda repeated uncertainly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"She must have been instructed not to talk," L said. "Send the image here."

"Is that a good idea?"

"It should be fine. Just do it."

The team moved around by the computer. "The image" came up on the screen. Misa was belted so she couldn't move, her legs also restrained. Her eyes were also covered. She was wearing what looked like a long straight jacket. Rem, who was standing behind her, looked to be positively fuming with anger.

"What the _hell_? That _can't_ be legal," Katherine said, shaking her head.

"R… Ryuzaki," Yagami said, "Is this…?"

"This is the only logical way to restrain her," L said. "She's suspected of being the second Kira. Of course, this will have been a terrible idea if she turns out to be innocent –"

"As we'll all be _criminals_," Katherine said in a sarcastically bright tone of voice.

"But I'm sure it's her."

"Yeah," Aizawa agreed, "it has to be. The evidence doesn't point to anyone else. There was a notebook in her room with the same paper as the diary entry and even a pen with the same ink, and she also has the same stamps as the ones on the envelopes. Also, there was pollen found on the envelopes that came from a flower native to where she lived before moving to Kanto. That flower doesn't exist here."

"She also has the receipts from the train tickets from when she went to Nagano and Tokyo to send the other tapes," Matsuda said. "Since the stations still have security tapes from those days, we could borrow them to check to make sure she's on the footage."

"Yes," L said, "meaning it can't be anyone else."

"All we have left to do is get out of her both how she kills and who else is killing," Katherine said. "If she was told directly by Kira to keep her mouth shut, she may not talk."

"Then we'll have to make her talk," L said. He spoke into the microphone. "Watari. Do everything possible within the limit of keeping her alive to make her talk."

"Yes, sir."

The computer switched back to it's regular screen.

"That doesn't sound legal, either," Katherine said slowly.

"Yagami-san," L said. "I've already restricted access for Light-kun to come here. I may summon him here for questioning in the near future. Please prepare yourself for that."

"Wh… why question him now?"

"Because," Katherine said, "he's been dating Misa since shortly after she moved to Kanto. Her parents were killed by robbers. Those robbers were killed by Kira. She admires Kira quite a bit. From what I know, she didn't meet Light until after he went to Aoyama on the twenty-second."

"If Yagami-kun is Kira, he could kill her just to keep her from talking. However, he hasn't. This could only be because he knows that only a handful of people know she has been arrested and it could draw attention to him."

_Or…_ Katherine thought to herself, remembering Rem's expression on the video, _perhaps Rem isn't going to __**let**__ him kill Misa without a fight…. If she's protecting Misa, then Light would obviously be afraid to act at the cost of his life._

* * *

After a while of thinking, then some more thinking, and then even more thinking, Katherine finally arrived to a conclusion late that night: Misa was a complete idiot. Light was using her and she didn't care. She was keeping her mouth shut for his sake. If she said anything, it wasn't like Light could kill her, not with Rem at her side. So she really hadn't gained any intelligence from hanging around smart people. If anything, she was even dumber than Katherine had remembered. This was the stupidest thing that Katherine could have ever though Misa would do.

She sat in a chair at headquarters with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth, grumbling under her breath as she tossed a ball of empty chocolate bar wrappers in the air. She wondered how any structure in the world was still standing with people as stupid as Misa around. There was absolutely no explanation for it. There was also absolutely no excuse for anyone to use their life to save the life of one who didn't deserve to live. It couldn't have been love. How could she _possibly_ love that idiot? Ryuk had really done a number on the world in dropping that Death Note on the ground, particularly on Japan, and _all_ just to cure his own boredom. If he didn't have a Death Note himself, she would have strangled him. As amusing as his sarcastic nature could be, this was basically his fault. Although, if Light had been just a _little_ smarter about things, she wouldn't be sitting in that hotel room, trying to figure out how dumb one had to be to want to save _his_ life.

As she flicked a few ashes off of the cigarette she'd been smoking to keep her from attempting to find Misa and knock some sense in her, the laptop spoke in its electronic voice again.

"Ryuzaki." The sudden voice caused Katherine to miss catching the ball of chocolate wrappers. "Misa has something to say."

"Huh," Katherine said. "Maybe she's finally going to get smart."

L moved quickly over to the computer.

"Stream the video and audio here," he said.

The rest of the team, all of whom had fallen asleep, woke up at the sudden voice. All attention turned to the computer as the image of Misa came back.

"I… can't take it anymore…" she said weakly. "Kill me."


	17. Chapter 16: Reverse Psychology

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. No simpler way to put it than that._

* * *

It was amazing the impact such a short sentence could have on a group of people listening to it. For someone as young and as bright as Misa to say something such as that was absolutely insane. It made no sense to the team whatsoever. Everyone stared at the image of Misa on the computer screen in absolute shock. At least, almost everyone did. Katherine glared at the image.

"Good _lord_," she said under her breath, shaking her head. "No sense has come to her…"

"What's that mean?" Aizawa asked suspiciously.

"Kira obviously has no way of telling if we've talked to her when she's in this state," Katherine said, "so he couldn't kill her if she said anything, seeing as he wouldn't know, and yet she insists on not saying _anything_."

"Unless she knows Kira is watching her."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "I'm _not_ getting into this again."

"Kill me," Misa repeated. "Please! Kill me."

"You know," Aizawa said quietly to Yagami and Matsuda, "I heard those two saying she hasn't even drank water for the past three days that she's been in custody."

"Wow," Matsuda said, "she has to be to her breaking point."

"What are you doing?" They looked over as Katherine was pushing L away from the computer.

"Misa Amane," Katherine said into the microphone, "can you hear me?"

"Yes…" she said. "_Please_, I'm begging you… just kill me…"

"You will have to live until you start talking," she said. "Do you admit to being the second Kira? Before you answer, take into consideration that we have a lot of evidence –"

"I don't _care_ about the second Kira! I can't take this anymore. I just want to die. It's better than having to live like this. Please, kill me now. Please! Kill me now! Come _on_!"

Rem, who had been standing next to her the entire time in silent disbelief, suddenly looked as though she had realized something. It took Katherine only a moment to understand what Rem had just realized.

"_M… Misa… you want me to…?_"

"Please…"

"_If you die, it will be at the fault of Light Yagami. I should kill him as well._"

"Just kill me. I was supposed to die then, anyway."

"Then…?" Katherine said to herself quietly, backing up from the microphone.

"I'll be happy if I die now. Please… just kill me while I'm still young and pretty."

"'_The human followed by a Shinigami will suffer great misfortune...' If I hadn't given you the notebook, then…. I am sorry, Misa_."

"Just do it!" Misa yelled.

"_Misa…_" Rem said. "_You can give up your Death Note._"

"Just kill me…"

"_If you give up your Death Note, you will forget all of this, except your love for Light Yagami. That's all you care about, isn't it?_"

"Yes…"

"_Do you want to give up your Death Note?_"

"Please…"

"_Good. You will fall asleep. You will not remember what happened or why you were chained here, but you will still remember Light Yagami. Goodbye Misa._"

Rem spread out her wings and flew up through the ceiling. Misa's head tilted down and her limbs went limp.

"Watari," L said into the microphone, "is she alive?"

"Yes," replied an electronic voice. "According to the monitors, she is. She appears to have only fainted."

L had seen both sides of the interaction. The rest of the investigation team hadn't, so there would have been turmoil if he hadn't made sure she was still alive. The air in the room seemed to thin out from the tense atmosphere that Misa's suggestion of death had brought to them. Katherine was glad Rem had the sense to have her forfeit the Death Note rather than kill her. Even though she absolutely despised Misa at the moment, she couldn't let go of the fact that Misa was basically her friend.

"Is he sure she's alive?" Matsuda said. "It seemed like Kira was controlling her actions, for her to have been acting like that."

Katherine laughed. "Mattie," she said, "how would you be acting if you were refused food and water for three days straight?"

"Uhh…"

She laughed again. "Thought so."

* * *

Katherine sat in front of the computer late into that night, pondering over where Rem could have flown off to. She hoped that Rem would go kill Light, even though Misa had told her not to. If not kill Light, at least strangle Ryuk. She would have liked to have strangled someone at that moment. The Kira case was really beginning to piss her off. If Misa hadn't forfeited the note, then she might have eventually snitched on Light. It would have taken some convincing, but no one could stand weeks and weeks without food or water. She definitely would have snitched on him after a while. Now she _really_ had no idea who Kira or the second Kira was. That was just plain annoying. To top it all off, the lack of movement on Misa's side of the camera made things just as boring as they were annoying.

"No movement?"

Katherine jumped at the sudden voice next to her. She crossed her arms.

"If you keep sneaking up on people, I swear I'll shave your head the next time you fall asleep," she said irritably to L as he sat down and looked at the camera as well.

"I think I'll make a note not to sleep anymore."

Katherine shot a glare over at him that was more a reaction to her lack of sleep than overall annoyance. Without flinching as most people would have, he offered her a cup of coffee. She sighed, took the cup, and gave a mumbled "Thanks," looking back at Misa on the computer screen.

"Is there _any_ way to wake her up?" Katherine wondered aloud, shaking her head. "It won't do any good whatsoever to keep her now, especially if she's just going to sleep for the rest of the time. It should be mildly amusing once she wakes up."

"Why would you say that?"

"I guarentee she'll think she was kidnapped by a stalker. I'd be willing to put money on it, even."

"She will probably to be easier to make talk, so this will be just as important to the case as it is 'amusing,'" L said. "She won't know what's going on, so she'll probably be a lot more talkative. If fact, she will probably admit to knowing Light Yagami. She also might admit to being in Aoyama on the twenty-second, although she won't know why she was there."

"Yes, but they won't care even if she admits to knowing Light Yagami," Katherine said through gritted teeth, "which is absolutely _annoying_."

"Particularly for a suspect," L said. "Two of them still believe you could be Kira."

"Yagami-san still thinks so?" she said. "I thought it was just Aizawa-san. Oh well. At least Mattie's still on my side."

"But Matsuda-san _is_ an idiot."

"You people _really_ need to quit calling my brother an idiot."

"But he is."

"No he's _not_, and," Katherine said, "since you're saying that he is an idiot because he doesn't suspect me, should I assume that this means you also suspect me?"

"No. I was merely pointing out that Matsuda-san is an idiot."

"What percentage are the chances of me being Kira?"

"Zero. You have no Death Note, therefore it is impossible for you to kill someone with one."

"I could have torn out pages."

"That's very unlikely, but it is quite possible. So, three percent."

"Hey! You did that on purpose!"

"If you don't want to be suspected, don't point things out."

"You tricked me into pointing it out."

"Did I?"

"I wouldn't have pointed it out if I were Kira."

"If you were Kira, then you might have pointed it out with the purpose of trying to confuse me by pointing it out."

"Ah-hah!" she said, nodding. "See, I'm not that smart."

"Yes you are. You're just good at acting like you're not."

"But the Shinigami following Light-kun around _said_ that he was Kira."

"Then there is a zero percent chance you are Kira and a three percent chance that you could be helping him."

She looked at him and shook her head. She then looked back at the computer screen.

"You don't suspect me," she said certainly.

"How do you know that?"

"It's quite simple, really," she said. "Do you look at me as a friend?"

L thought for a moment. He had never been asked such a question. Therefore, he had never particularly had to worry about answering it. Was this some sort of strange trick question? Maybe she was on Kira's side. Or maybe she was asking so she could make another completely pointless point to her side of this argument, even though he wasn't particularly arguing. It still seemed unlikely that she was working for Kira, for some reason, even though she did make a good point in saying she could have torn pages out of the Death Note she'd given him. He still didn't think she had… or was it just that he didn't want to think she had? But then, _why_ would he not want to think she had? It was all rather confusing. She was definitely just as good at being confusing as Kira had been early on in the case…. She obviously wasn't Kira with what that Shinigami following Light had said, but maybe she was working for him. That still didn't seem likely, for some reason. It seemed unlikely that she could act as hostile towards Light as she did if she was working with him at all, but besides that, she just didn't _seem_ like she could be an ally of Kira. Why? He couldn't figure that much out. If his mind was this set on trying not to see her as a suspect, then maybe he did look at her as a friend.

"… Yes."

"Then you don't suspect me," she said simply. All that thinking just for that…? She really _was_ confusing. "Of course, you apparently look at Light-kun as a friend, and you suspect him, so that just blows that theory away…."

"I don't look at him as a friend. I said that for the purpose of confusing him."

"Oh. Well, then," she said airily, "I don't want any liars for friends. Especially not people who lie about considering people as friends."

"It was your idea."

"I'm really wondering when people are going to start learning that it's a terribly bad idea to listen to me."

_Confusing…_ L thought, looking at her as she watched to computer screen boredly. _That's definitely the only word for it._

As L began going back into his normal think-mode, a small buzzing noise distracted him. Katherine looked down at her pocket, then pulled her cell phone out. She held it by its antenna, then groaned miserably.

"_Shiiit_," she said, falling backwards onto the floor. She put her feet on the table next to the laptop as she flipped her phone open.

"Oi," she said, suddenly speaking in English. "It's been bloody ages, what in 'ell are you calling for now? 'Zat so? 'Ow'd you find that out?"

It was strange how she'd been speaking in English her whole life, but her English vocabulary was much less proper than her Japanese. This was probably because she hadn't slept in a while… and also most likely because her best friends for years were crooks, but that was unimportant. L knew as well as she probably did that crooks weren't always extremely bad people just because they were crooks. They always made good spies and negotiators, and a lot of them were much easier to work with on cases than law officials.

"Now why're you fecking calling me about it? Yes, I'm hostile. I 'aven't slept in four days. Or three. Maybe five. I'm loosing count. What day is it? Hmm. Thursday. I'm not sure what day it was when I last slept, so that doesn't help me much. Because I felt like it, that's why I asked. Let me go now. I'm supervising. The second Kira. Yes, really. Now go to sleep and stop researching pointless things, it's 1:30 in the fecking morning. Right. Good night. Or good morning, whatever."

She snapped her phone shut and sat quickly back up.

"Did she do anything?" she asked hurriedly, looking at Misa.

"No."

"Damn…" she said with a sigh of disinterest.

"I thought you had been planning on firing your spies."

"Eh?" She looked over. "Ah. I tried, but they refused to be fired. I'm not sure what happened there, but I'm not overly worried about it."

"Did they find anything out?"

"Nothing relevant to the Kira case," she said. "But Don seemed to think that them finding my real parents would be interesting to me." She downed the rest of her coffee in one large gulp, and then laughed. "Bloody idiot."

If she had any feeling about it, she was obviously hiding it well. If he was her friend, he should ask her about it, shouldn't he? This friend business was also very confusing. Maybe he was just thinking too much about it. Thinking too much had never been a bad thing before, but now it was just giving him a headache. Maybe it was a bad thing sometimes. It definitely didn't seem like he needed to over-think this, as the more he did, the more confused he got. He really didn't like being confused.

"Was it interesting?" L asked.

"Well," she said, laughing, "interesting is _one_ word for it. My dad would have been about thirty when I was born. My mom would have been about fourteen. They were both meth addicts. She managed to stop for a good eight months, then I was born. As they couldn't be bothered to use her money for anything other than drugs, they dropped me, and I was then sent to the nearest orphanage, where I eventually made friends with the local deviants who broke me out of the joint, bless their hearts. I may have turned into a murderer were it not for them."

"Huh. It's a surprise you weren't sent to the one I grew up in," L said.

Then he realized exactly _what_ he'd said.

Obviously, too much thinking _wasn't_ a bad thing. If he had kept with too much thinking, he wouldn't have ended up making any mention of his past.

"Eh?"

And now came the questioning. How could he have managed to slip up on something that important?

"Nothing," he said quickly.

She almost started to ask him about it, but she managed to stop herself – he hadn't meant to say anything, so questioning him about it wouldn't have been particularly kind of her. He definitely considered her a friend, however. His lack of thought at that statement showed that. To keep his identity secret, L never talked about his past, and he _never_ slipped up about it. Everyone knew that, which was why no one knew anything about him. She did already know his real name, but she wasn't sure he was even _supposed_ to talk about his past. He had already risked his life by revealing his real name. Now he was risking his name by saying something about who he really was. Of course, _everyone_ knew that L would never reveal anything about who he was. Now, it seemed 'everyone' was very mistaken. She knew his real name was L Lawliet _and_ that he used to live in an orphanage, and that talking about it made him extremely nervous, since he was now anxiously biting his thumbnail.

She laughed. "Don't worry," she said, "I'm not going to ask."

He looked at her. Reverse psychology…? That would have been completely childish. It didn't seem like it, however. Then, there was that "seem" word again. It didn't _seem_ like she was trying to make him talk by not trying to make him talk. It had _seem_ed like too much thinking wasn't necessary at the time. It didn't _seem_ like she could possibly be working with Kira. That word was really starting to get on his nerves. He knew that was exactly what was confusing him so much, and that she was confusing because that word really seemed – and there it was _again – _to apply to her personality. As she was particularly hard to read with all of the acting she did, the only thing that he could do was make assumptions, so she would _seem_ to be a lot of things.

"Are you alright?"

"Hmm?"

"Thinking too hard can cause brain aneurysms, you know."

"Can it?"

"I don't know, I'm not a neurosurgeon." She waited a moment, as though waiting for some kind of reply, then continued. "I wasn't trying to use reverse psychology or anything. That would just be childish."

_And now she can __**read minds**__…_ L thought to himself. _This is just weird. Maybe she's not doing this reverse psychology thing on purpose. That wouldn't be as childish._

"Are you sure you're not involuntarily using reverse psychology?"

"I… wouldn't know it if I was," she said slowly. "So… no. I'm not sure I'm not. But if I'm not doing it on purpose, then it isn't as childish, right?"

"… Right."

She laughed. "You sound confused."

He sighed and shook his head, but didn't answer. Quite content with and amused by the fact that she had just managed to confuse the greatest detective in the world without even _trying _to, she looked back at the computer screen, smiling to herself. She'd have to do that more often. He was awfully cute when he was confused.

L, however, wasn't content or amused with it at all. He was still _very _perplexed. _Could_ she read minds, or were their trains of thought _really_ that similar? It seemed unlikely that she could read minds, but there was that damned _seem_ word creeping up into his thoughts again. He strummed his fingers on his kneecap, trying very hard to understand what in the world was going on. It was giving him a headache again. However, not thinking was out of the question. He'd have to practice being halfway between not thinking and thinking too much, as he wasn't entirely sure how that was supposed to work. He couldn't keep blurting things out about his past that he wasn't supposed to mention, though… that wasn't a good thing at all.


	18. Chapter 17: Unnecessary Ally

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_About this chapter. I will say to one of the commenters who commented in one of the last few chapters: good guess. _

* * *

It was really amazing the things that memory loss could do to a person. What was really amazing was that Katherine had turned out to be the only person not to fall asleep the night before. This was probably due to the insane amounts of coffee she had practically inhaled, but she was still awake, that's what mattered. So, she had been staring at the computer at six o' clock in the morning when Misa awoke and began getting upset. _Very_ upset. As in, very funny, of course. It was funny because she had been dead on about what Misa's reaction would be.

"Stalker-san. Stalker-san! Let me out of the chains and stuff, I swear I won't run away! I just need to stretch my legs. Please, stalker-san?"

It was about nine o' clock that morning when Katherine gave a laugh that resulted in someone falling off of a couch or out of a chair with a _thud_ on the floor. This amazingly woke no one else up, but it did make her laugh again.

"Stalker-san! PLEASE!!"

"What's going on?" asked a very tired, confused voice.

"I have absolutely no idea," Katherine said, looking over at Matsuda, "but I don't think she knows either, so that's not really surprising."

"Eh?"

"Listen."

"Stalker-san, please let me go! I'll give you a hug! Please? I'll give you my autograph, too. Oh! I have to use the bathroom? Please!!"

"Is it an act…?"

"I don't know. Oi!" she called back at the investigation team. Everyone awoke with a start. "Is there a Stalker-san here, by any chance?"

The investigation team gathered around the computer, looking down at the screen, where Misa was now struggling. She was definitely quite a bit livelier than she had been the day before, but it wasn't doing her any good. She definitely wasn't begging for death anymore. She was instead begging for freedom. Katherine laughed again at Misa's yells of "Stalker-san." She looked back at the team, who all looked quite confused.

"Any ideas?" she said. "Mattie thinks it may be an act. Any votes to agree?"

"I think you might know something about it," Aizawa grumbled.

"Aizawa-san thinks I hypnotized her with my crazy killing mind-powers, of course."

"I didn't say –" he started.

"Anyone else? Yagami-san? Ryuzaki?"

"I don't… I'm not sure."

"And Ryuzaki?"

"I agree with Yagami-san."

"That's two to one to one, their side wins."

"This isn't a _game_," Aizawa said.

"We all know you're only saying that because you lost. Oh," she said, standing up quickly, "I should probably head to the store. I not only drank almost all the coffee in this place to stay awake so someone would be watching the suspect, but now I'm bored and I need something to do before I have a caffeine induced heart attack."

That was only partially true. She had definitely drunk all the coffee. However, she wasn't going to the store because she needed something to do. She was going to the store because she was going to pretend to cooperate. That was something she needed to do every once in a great while after all, otherwise she wouldn't be trusted anymore. Sure, this was probably costing her the trust of a couple certain members of the investigation team, but that wasn't very important. What was important was that she had found an awesome way to confuse one member. Asking awkward questions at strange moments could be very amusing. She laughed to herself on the way through the lobby, but she did so a little louder than she had intended. This brought on some extremely strange looks from some people checking in.

Katherine got in the driver's seat of her car and took her cell phone out of her pocket. She dialed a few numbers and held it to her ear. A few moments later, a voice that made her want to gag herself with a spoon answered.

"Hello?"

"Light," she said quickly, "No one can hear this conversation. Rem is gone. Misa forfeited her Death Note."

"I know," Light said. "I take it you saw it happen?"

"Yeah. See, she was begging us to kill her and Rem talked her into forfeiting her Death Note instead of death, because death might have been a little more painful, see."

There was a pause on the other line. Of course, she had said her last sentence in about a nanosecond, so this was to be expected. It might take a normal person a moment to take in all of that.

"Right," Light said slowly. "Is there any chance that you've been able to get Ryuzaki's real name?"

"No," she said. "I've tried. I did manage to confuse him, though," she added proudly. "I confused him and _then_ I drank all of his coffee when he fell asleep."

"Okay," Light said slowly. "That's… interesting. Now, anyway, due to the problem with Misa, I've come up with a new plan."

"Have you?"

"Yes," Light said.

"Do tell."

"Will this get back to anyone in the investigation team?"

"Nope. Just Bob."

"_Who_?"

"My imaginary friend."

"S… sure," Light said. "Good. Then here's the deal. I'm planning on turning myself in."

"That's… just… going to get you killed," Katherine said slowly. "Not following."

"I'm going to tell Ryuzaki that I think I might be Kira without knowing I am, and talk the investigation team into supervising me. As it would be difficult for you to take up Kira's work that close to the team all the time, I've planned something else that Rem has agreed to help with for the sake of proving Misa's innocence. She is going to drop a Death Note for someone else, preferably someone in a high seat of corporate power. While myself and Misa are in confinement, the killings will start again, proving us to be innocent."

"Good plan," Katherine said, "but I think Ryuk'll get bored being in confinement."

"I'll forfeit my Death Note. I won't remember that I'm Kira."

"I could remind you," she said.

"Don't, it's part of my plan."

"Oh. That's no fun."

"Fun isn't the issue here," Light said, getting annoyed. "I'm going to burry Misa's Death Note and forfeit my own. I've traded them so Rem will have my old one with instructions in it, and I've had Ryuk add two fake rules."

"Okay. That's a little more interesting, then."

_I swear I'm taking to the human equivalent of Ryuk_… Light thought to himself, restraining from getting too angry. _This could get annoying. If I can't get rid of her with the Death Note…. I'll be forgetting she was my ally soon, anyway, I'll put up with this for a little while longer._

"The rules are that anyone who had touched the Death Note will die if it is destroyed in some way. The other is that someone who has written a name in the note doesn't write another for thirteen days, that person will die. Rem will drop this note, as I said, for someone in a high seat of corporate power. If I'm right about my own personality, once I have forfeited my Death Note and forgotten about being Kira, I will talk Ryuzaki into letting me join the investigation to catch Kira, and we will. Then, I will touch the notebook and be able to kill the new owner with a small piece I have hidden, that I won't remember until I again touch that note."

"Mm-hmm. Why kill?"

"I won't own it again unless he dies while I am holding the Death Note."

"Oh. So obviously you will need to kill him."

"Right. As Misa has given her Death Note up, once I have my memory back, I can have her unbury my old note."

"Ooh. Interesting. And as she has seen Ryuzaki's face, she can then kill him."

"Exactly."

"Have you considered a particular idiocy factor into this?"

"What?"

"Misa's mentally challenged," Katherine said pointedly. "What do you plan to do if she's _forgotten_ the name?"

"She'll have Ryuk as her Shinigami at that point. She can exchange for Shinigami eyes again without Rem talking her out of it."

"Smart. Alright, I'm at a public area now, which means I can't exactly be talking to you on the phone. I'll call back with anything else that may be important later."

Katherine shut her phone and got out of her car at the grocery store. She would definitely have to tell L about this soon.

* * *

"What are you talking about?"

It had taken some consideration. However, L saw it as the only possible solution for the problem that currently faced him. His "friend" was becoming an unnecessary distraction to the investigation. Letting important _secret_ information slip in front of her was a very bad thing. He also already knew how Kira killed, and who Kira was. That was enough information to go by, even with Misa having given up her Death Note. Katherine wasn't going to be able to offer much more help in the investigation. Even acting as a spy, her hearing Light Yagami say "I am Kira" wouldn't be enough for the rest of the team, and they probably wouldn't even believe it if she had it caught on audio tape. As she was creating a somewhat hostile environment with part of the investigation team, letting her go was the only option. He didn't want to. He couldn't figure out _why_ he didn't want to. Nevertheless, it seemed like the best action to take.

Explaining it to the investigation team would involve quite a bit of lying…. It couldn't be helped.

"She has been acting as a spy."

"I _knew_ it!" Aizawa said. "So she knows who Kira is and she's been working for him?"

"No," L said. "He contacted her with an untraceable number and voice distortion, and she agreed to spy on the team for him. She says she has been spying on our side, but it is still too risky to take chances."

"Does he know who is on the team?" Yagami asked.

"Faces, yes, but only because he has seen us all, not because she has sent him any information against us. He knows only Yagami-san's name, but seems to refrain from killing him."

"If she's still on our side, then why do we need to get rid of her?" Matsuda asked. "She was the one who found out about Amane, so she's been helping. And she's best for doing field work since she can't be killed!"

"She says she has discovered that Kira can kill by means other than heart attack," L said. "I don't know how true this is. However, if he can cause a person to murder another, she isn't as safe as we all thought to use for field work."

"Then why wasn't she killed after the Sakura TV –"

"The second Kira is significantly less intelligent than the real Kira," L said. "She probably didn't know how. Kira thought of using her as a spy rather than killing her on the spot."

"Wait," Aizawa said. "You knew she was a spy, right?"

"Yes."

"Isn't that the sort of thing you're supposed to tell the team?"

"If I had told you, you would have overreacted. I am not doing this because I don't trust her. I'm doing this because Kira could possibly trick her."

"You might want to tell her before she gets here," Matsuda said, pointing out the monitors at the other side of the room, showing Katherine was walking into the lobby.

"Matsuda-san, please go inform her that she is not permitted to enter headquarters. You may tell her why."

"Okay…"

Matsuda walked out the door, shooting a rather angry look back at the rest of the team. He had been much more cooperative than L had expected. That was definitely lucky. Having even one member of the investigation team acting with hostility would cause problems within the investigation itself, especially with how few people they had on their side.

––

Matsuda stopped Katherine in front of the staircase. She looked at him oddly. What was L up to now?

"Ryuzaki sent me to prohibit you from entering headquarters."

So that was what he was up to, then. Her mind told her to act rationally, but the caffeine that still hadn't worked its way out of her system was working much faster than her mind.

"_What??_" She dropped the bag off coffee on the floor. "That little shi –"

"He told us you were spying on Kira."

"Eh?"

"That Kira contacted you anonymously a while back."

"Right," she said. "Yeah. It's more likely that I'm an unneeded distraction to the team now because I don't have any more good information. Goddammit!" She picked up the bag of coffee handed it to Matsuda, then took out her cell phone. "Hold on for just minute."

Katherine walked out of earshot of Matsuda, who now looked very bewildered. She dialed a number and held the phone to her ear.

"Yes?"

"You're getting rid of me?" Katherine said. "Pity. I have some interesting information."

"Do you?"

"_Yes_. And besides which, I believe you have something of mine. Notebook?"

"That is a piece of evidence that must be held onto until the end of the case."

"Ah. Right." Seething mad wasn't the best thing in the world to mix with caffeine, especially not for her…. "Kira is planning something. Something that you should probably be forewarned about. However, as I'm not going to be on the investigation team anymore because I don't have any useful information, you won't find out what it is and I'll just go back to my role as silent observer, shall I?"

She snapped her phone shut, but it rang only a moment later. She flipped it open and held it to her ear.

"What?" she snapped.

"What information do you have?"

"I just said –"

"If it is important information, you will be allowed back on the team."

"I just said I'm not going to tell you unless it's certain that I'm on the team."

"This isn't a matter of a job," L said impatiently, "and it is completely immature to believe it is. This case is a matter of lives."

"'Immature'? That's really something coming from someone who only takes up cases that look like they could be _fun_. You'll know at least a part of Kira's plan soon. He's going to be taking action very soon. I left this morning to call and give him information that I knew he already had by telling him that I didn't think he'd know yet and it seemed important. I'm sure you know what information that would be. He told me about a plan."

"Yes…"

"Yes. He told me about a plan that he will be executing soon. That's all."

"If the Kira case is going to be solved, then –"

"You'll find out soon. I said he will be executing this plan soon. Don't you listen? If you want to let me back on the case in the future, then you know my number. Until then –"

She snapped her phone shut. She walked back over to Matsuda.

"Take that upstairs for me," she said, indicating the bag he was holding. "I will be going 'home'."

––

Katherine arrived at her home after having spent days with the investigation team. Home wasn't a very good word for it anymore, as that definitely wasn't how she saw it. The headquarters had basically become _her_ home. That didn't matter. If she wasn't wanted there by anyone, then she wasn't going to go back. She scoffed to herself as she lay down on the couch in her living room and turned on the television.

"Friends just aren't fucking worth it," she mumbled bitterly. "Probably lied anyway. Stupid emotionless sugar-high insomniac…"

She rolled her eyes at nothing in particular as she commenced flipping absently through the channels.

"I can talk to myself again now without anyone thinking I'm Kira because I'm a maniac who thinks out loud, at least," she thought aloud. "That's pretty cool."

Then came a thought that gave her a gut wrenching feeling. The only reason for that was because there _was_ no one there to think she was Kira. There was no one there at _all_. Maybe it just wasn't worth it. Maybe she should tell L Kira's plans. Oh, screw it. That would be giving in. She had enjoyed silently observing earlier on in the investigation. Hell, she still had her cameras hooked up over there! She could tune in any time she liked for a good laugh. But what if they moved headquarters again? What if they made some kind of impenetrable permanent headquarters that her spies couldn't set up cameras in? That would mean she would be in the dark again. So swallowing her pride and giving L the information would be best, right?

_No, no, **no**! He was going to kick me out in the first place! I told him I had information and he was all gung-ho about letting me back in, which means he was kicking me out because he thought I was useless. Stupid fuck. Don't know why I thought he was my friend. I'd probably beat the shit out of his scrawny ass if I saw him again after this, anyway. I should probably stay out. Yes. No one could figure out such a plan on their own. Not even L. He'll be begging me to come back in no time._

Even this thought didn't keep her from being fuming mad. She wasn't sure she wanted to be a part of the investigation team anymore. If three people didn't trust her, then there was just no point in worrying about them.

* * *

It was definitely for the best. The team was short another person, sure, but if L mentioned anything else about his past… That would put more than just _his_ identity in danger. She was probably only bluffing about Kira planning something, anyway, just an attempt to get back on the team. At least there wasn't constant arguing between Aizawa and Katherine to worry about. That could give anyone a migraine. But now Matsuda was being less efficient than ever. Granted, he had never been particularly efficient before, but he wasn't doing much of any work now, or even coming up with stupid-yet-somewhat-amusing theories about Kira. That wasn't much of a loss. As it was probably a bluff, this whole "Kira has a plan" thing, losing her wasn't that bad.

So, it didn't make any sense for L to feel even remotely bad about kicking her out. So why did he? There had been no point to it. The confusion still hadn't gone away. She was _still_ confusing him and she hadn't even been there since that morning. Now it was midnight. What kind of sense did that make? It didn't make _any_, not by his logic. L rolled his eyes at the thought and continued supervising Misa Amane. She had found the team Misa. Matsuda had actually made a sensible point there, which was something he didn't seem particularly capable of doing. Hadn't that just been a stroke of luck, though, since Katherine knew Misa? She had spotted Misa by the Shinigami, though. Now that L could see Shinigami as well, and that made her seem like even less of a necessity. Of course, his sanity was a necessity in a case like this, and this whole thing was threatening to drive him crazy. At least when she had been there, he hadn't had to get confused about why he was angry about having kicked her out.

There was one problem with her not being on the case, another point that Matsuda – of _all_ people – had made. She had no name, so she was good for basically anything that involved being out in public for the investigation. It was natural that Matsuda had been the only one to point anything out about her that would benefit the investigation, as both Aizawa and Yagami were against her. They both believed that she was Kira, or she was working for Kira. So, L and Matsuda agreed on one thing: she wasn't Kira and she definitely wasn't working for him. L really didn't like agreeing with Matsuda on _anything_, but L did believe he was right about not suspecting her.

L still didn't understand why he himself didn't suspect her, as she was a bit suspicious. Trying to figure it out would just bring that stupid word that he no longer liked back into his mind. That "seem" word. That word was so annoying. He came to the conclusion that he wouldn't be so perturbed and perplexed if he stopped thinking about it. Perhaps that was the best action to take.


	19. Chapter 18: Caffeinated Idiocies

_Ehh._

_Although my brother's musings on sheep and zombies (if ya wanna know, look at the quotes section in my profile) cheered me up after writing the last chapter, I had to start writing this chapter immediately after the last one to cheer myself up more. _

_But as I like writing in a somewhat twisty style – as my randomly inflicted story twists surprise me as much or more than they do my readers – I just couldn't help it once I had started writing it, even though it made me sad. It will all tie in, though. I promise._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

* * *

It had never happened before, not in the past year they had been working on the Kira case. It had been ten days since Katherine left, and that sudden change of pace was bound to evoke some strange occurrences. But no one expected _this_ occurrence. After L had fallen asleep for his weekly few hours of rest, Matsuda had managed to poke and prod Aizawa and Yagami awake to call a "meeting". A top secret meeting that L wasn't aloud to know about.

"A meeting?" Aizawa said, scratching his head as he sat down on the couch. "What the hell, Matsuda? You're an idiot."

"This is important," Matsuda said quietly, glancing back at the chair L was asleep in. "And keep your voice down."

"A _secret_ meeting, no less…. This had better be good if you had to wake me up for it."

"It is," he said. "Have either of you noticed how we've been getting more work done than Ryuzaki lately?"

"Eh?" Aizawa said.

"Yes, actually," Yagami said. "He has been more inefficient than usual, it seems."

"Really?" Aizawa said. "I didn't realize that."

"Okay," Matsuda said, "and how long have _you_ noticed it for?"

"A little over a week," Yagami said.

"Well," Aizawa said, "he has been chewing his fingernails off a lot more often. And he keeps zoning out, then claiming he was analyzing information. For a little over a week," he added in agreement.

"About ten days," Matsuda said. "Right?"

"Yes, about that," Aizawa said slowly. "Why would it matter if it's ten days or not?"

"What _happened_ ten days ago?"

The two of them thought for a moment. It was three o' clock in the morning, so it thinking took a little more time than usual. Matsuda, however, had practically been drowning himself in caffeine all day so he _would _be able to stay awake. Unfortunately, he wasn't aware at the time that caffeine made him impatient, and it made ten seconds seem like ten hours. So, he was strumming his fingers impatiently on the table the three of them were seated at.

"I know what happened ten days ago," Aizawa said. "The best thing that has ever happened durring the entire course of this investigation, that's what happened."

"Apparently not so much for Ryuzaki," Yagami said. "That would make sense."

"Didn't he agree with us, though?" Aizawa said. "It seemed he at least somewhat suspected her. I think we all did."

"_I_ didn't," Matsuda grumbled. "Anyway. If we're going to be working on this case with Ryuzaki, we need to think of something to do to fix this."

"If you're suggesting getting her back, _I'm_ leaving," Aizawa protested.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you hate her," Matsuda said, waving his hand dismissively. "But we definitely can't have Ryuzaki off-focus, right? He's the smartest one of us here, which means that if he keeps zoning out, we're going to have a problem solving the Kira case."

"If she is Kira, then having her on the case isn't good."

"While _I_ don't suspect her, think about this for a second," Matsuda said. "I think this makes sense, I've been thinking about it for about six days."

Cue the smart ass comment…

"It might actually make _some_ sense if you've been thinking that long…"

And there is was. It was probably better to ignore it, anyway, rather than shooting at him that he only hated Kat because she had better comebacks.

"If she _is_ Kira, then it's better to have her on the case, because then she's under direct supervision at all times. She already knows all of our real names except Ryuzaki's, so she could have just gone home and killed us, but she didn't. That could be because she'd be suspected if she did, so she might still be Kira. But, if she is, then we could keep an eye on her."

"Dammit…"

"It makes sense!" Matsuda said defensively.

"I know it does," Aizawa said, "that's what's bad. It means we probably should ask her to come back. I'm going to have to buy something for headaches if she does…."

"We can't just ask her to come back," Yagami said. "If Ryuzaki doesn't agree to it, then she won't be allowed inside headquarters."

"Then that's what we have to do," Matsuda said reasonably.

"I think convincing Ryuzaki of anything is going to be impossible," Aizawa said. "He's too stubborn. Remember when we set up surveillance for a week in Yagami-san's house? There were _no_ blind spots anywhere, and there were sixty-four cameras in Light-kun's room, but Ryuzaki still suspects him."

"If he's not happy about having kicked her out in the first place, he might be quicker to agree to that," Matsuda said.

"I doubt that," Yagami said. "He's probably trying to convince himself that he's perfectly happy about it."

"That would explain all the zoning…" Matsuda mused.

"And it could create a problem in convincing him of anything," Yagami said. "Someone like Ryuzaki will listen to himself long before he'll listen to anyone else."

"Well," Matsuda said, "we could get calling her out of the way first, and tell her we're still talking to Ryuzaki."

"Then she'd swear at you about how he's a stupid insomniac and hang up the phone," Aizawa said. "She's a little oversensitive."

"Well, wouldn't you be a little oversensitive if we were accusing you of being Kira?"

"Idiot…"

"Let's not get off topic," Yagami said, sensing an argument about to ensue. "I think that we should get her opinion first. We don't know if she would agree to come back or not yet."

"See?" Matsuda said. "I'm _not_ an idiot!"

"All idiots have smart moments."

"Well _you're –_"

"Matsuda," Yagami said, interrupting their argument before it could get too loud, "you will call her."

"When?"

"How much coffee did you drink today?"

"Uhh… I don't know. About… six or seven cups, I think. Why?"

"If you drank enough, use the excuse of going to the store to buy some, go tomorrow.

"Yeah, since L no longer has the option of sending Watari out to buy things, he'll probably start getting you to do it next, anyway."

"Why do you say that?"

"He probably thinks you're an idiot by now, and he's more apt to send the biggest idiot out of the three of us to the store."

"Can you go for five minutes without callong me an idiot?" Matsuda said.

"Probably."

"Bet five hundred yen you can't."

"Then I could just –"

"I'd pay you both five hundred yen to stop arguing for _two_ minutes." They both stopped abruptly at the sudden interjection. "Don't act too suspiciously about it."

"I don't –"

"Yes you do," Aizawa said.

"I did fine in Aoyama!"

"Speaking of which," Aizawa said, "will you explain why Katherine kept constantly referring to you as her brother and not explaining?"

"Oh, right," he said. "Light-kun thought it would be a good idea to meet with a group of friends from his college so we could blend in, and our story was that we were his cousins from out of town."

"Was there a story behind why he refused to talk to her after you three got back?"

"She… umm… _extended_ her character a little more. By the time she was done, she had decided that Light-kun was her favorite cousin to embarrass in front of friends."

"Now that that's cleared up," Yagami said impatiently, "as I was saying. Do not act to obviously."

"Do the thing where you complain really loudly about being bored," Aizawa said. "But do it while you're getting coffee or something, then ask if you can go buy some more since there's not much left."

"That's a good idea," Matsuda said. "I think I'll do that. But… I don't have a _car_ here, so I'd have to talk about the Kira case over the phone in public transportation, which probably wouldn't be good…"

"So walk to the store."

"Can't I borrow your car?"

"_No_."

He sighed. "Fine…"

As there was an abundance of coffee still left, Matsuda decided it would probably be a good idea to drink some more. Otherwise, his excuse wouldn't work as well. Besides, coffee was pretty good. By a couple hours after everyone had awoken (or reawoken, for some), the two and a half containers of coffee had been reduced to one and a half. This should have been enough to go to the store. It definitely seemed like it. He definitely needed something to do now. Something to do besides strum his fingers on the table. That wasn't very entertaining.

L was attempting to talk to Misa and get information out of her that she obviously didn't know. He had glanced up a moment ago, and another glance a moment later revealed that Matsuda appeared to have somehow teleported in front of the coffee maker to look into the half-empty container.

"We need more coffee," he said.

"There's a container and a half left, I looked this morning," L said, looking back at the computer screen.

"That's not enough!"

L looked back up. As his eyes were twice their normal size, it L concluded that Matsuda had drank a container and a half of coffee by himself between the previous day and night.

"I don't think you need any more."

"Yes I do. I'm going to the store."

And a moment later, he was walking out the door. He came back in another moment later and picked up his wallet off the table, then walked back out. L looked at Aizawa and Yagami.

"Was there a reason for that?"

They shook their heads, looking as confused as L felt.

"Just another of his idiocies, then," he concluded, looking back at the computer. "Aizawa-san."

"Huh?"

"Please instruct Matsuda-san when he returns to stop drinking all my coffee. Not only is it irritating, but we will have no way of knowing if it was caffeine or Kira if he dies."

"Okay…"

* * *

Katherine sat down on her couch with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth at about midday and turned on the television. As she had only gone to college to get close to Kira and L, there was no point in going back. If she ever wanted a job that required a degree, she could just have Pat or Don make her up an identity that had a degree. They didn't mind, as it gave them something to do. She wished _she_ had something to do.

As the wish crossed her mind, her cell phone ring. Wondering vaguely about whether a genie was involved and then scolding herself silently for such a dim-witted thought, she pulled it out of her pocket. She flipped it open without checking the caller ID.

"Oy," she said.

A very energized voice answered her.

"We need you back on the team."

She paused for a moment, taking in this sentence.

"Have you had coffee?" she asked Matsuda slowly.

"I had to drink the rest of it so I could go out and buy more and be able to turn on my cell phone. We need you back on the team."

Katherine laughed. She had never gotten the chance to talk to anyone who was quite this hyper before. It was somewhat amusing.

"It's not funny!" he said frantically. "Ryuzaki can't focus on anything and when Ryuzaki can't focus it's impossible to do any work because he's not giving us any work to _do_, and he's been like this for the past ten days!"

"Were you instructed to call," she asked, "or did you come to the decision on your own?"

"Ryuzaki fell asleep last night and me and Aizawa and Yagami had a meeting."

"Well, thanks for calling," she said. "This is probably the most interesting thing that's happened since I left the team. However, I'm not going to agree to come back until Ryuzaki wants me to."

"We think he does but he's trying to convince himself he doesn't because of how he likes to always be right… or something like that."

"Jesus," she said, beginning to loose track of the millisecond-long sentences. "You really shouldn't drink coffee. You're bordering cardiac arrest."

"So are you going to agree to come back?"

"If Ryuzaki wants me to come back. He obviously thinks I'm useless. Do me a favor. Tell him he's a stupid fuck when you get back."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"He doesn't know I'm calling."

"I didn't say you had to tell him I said it."

"I'm not going to make him think _I_ said it!"

"Why not?"

"He scares me."

Katherine shook her head, laughing again. "That's pitiful."

"Yeah, sure. So you'll agree to come back if he says he wants you to come back?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I think we can do that. I'm not sure how, but it has to be possible. Right?"

"Mattie?"

"Eh?"

"You really shouldn't ingest caffeine any more."

There was a pause on the other line. "But I'm starting to like coffee…"

"How much of it did you drink?"

"Between yesterday and last night about a container and a half. I think. Ryuzaki had some, too. I don't know."

"You really shouldn't do that. If you have a heart attack, they won't know whether it's Kira's fault for being an ass or Ryuzaki's fault for keeping so much coffee on hand. You can have coffee, just not that much."

He sighed resignedly. "Alright…"

"Okay," she said.

"I'm at the store. Have to go. Kira case can't be talked about in public."

"You just said something about it."

This brought another pause. "Oops. I should probably go."

"Alright," she said, laughing. "Let the others know my answer whenever you can. And next time you have to leave to make a call, don't drink all the coffee and use that as an excuse."

"Okay. Bye."

The other line clicked, and she shut her phone. Katherine set her phone on the coffee table next to her and lay down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

"Well, that killed a good five minutes…" she thought aloud.

* * *

Matsuda set the bag of coffee next to the coffee maker on a table in the room and walked over to the couch and sat down. Aizawa looked back at him.

"Hey," he said.

Matsuda looked sharply over. It was a wonder he wasn't getting whiplash from doing that so much.

"You need to stop drinking coffee."

"Why?" His eye twitched. He obviously didn't notice. "I'm okay."

"Because we need to know whether or not it's Kira if you have a heart attack any time soon. Besides, when's the last time you blinked?"

He thought for a moment, unblinkingly. He then said, "Ten minutes ago?"

"Just… sit over there until you've calmed down."

"I'm calm!" he said energetically.

"No you're not."

"I can't help but wonder if Matsuda-san didn't leave just to get coffee," L said, not looking away from the computer. Matsuda looked over sharply at L.

"Why would you say that? I like coffee."

"You didn't start… 'liking' coffee until yesterday."

"It must be the brand. What brand is it? I didn't check, so I probably didn't even buy the right brand, so I probably won't be drinking it anymore."

"Even though I didn't understand a word of that, I still wonder if you left for some other reason," L said.

"Does everything have to be a mystery? I left to buy coffee because I was bored and you were almost out."

"I wasn't almost out."

"Yes you were."

"Saying it repeatedly doesn't make it true."

A pause, then, "Yes it does."

L decided it would be best to give up until the effects of the coffee left Matsuda. It was impossible to reason with him when he was in a normal state. Naturally, a caffeine-charged Matsuda would be even harder to reason with. In this state, he probably wouldn't get any sort of answer from Matsuda other than a contradiction, and that wasn't what he was looking for. L had slept last night. Had the other three called some secret meeting while he was asleep? No, that was ridiculous. Of course, Matsuda was ridiculous, and he was still awake when L awoke that morning at six. So there was every chance he could have awoken the other two and spoken with them. But about what? There was only one answer that could come to his mind, one that he preferred not to think about, as thinking about it tended to leave him out of focus. Had they noticed this? If Matsuda had noticed it, he would have obviously felt like a genius, and would have called a meeting about his accomplishment. That was just something that Matsuda seemed likely to do.

He didn't need to question it now. It was obvious Aizawa and Yagami knew something that L didn't, and Matsuda was extremely suspicious, especially with the amount caffeine that was in his system. He actually might have been easier to question in this state. He would definitely be more apt to slip up when asked confusing questions. L was fairly sure he knew now, however, that they had privately discussed something, or someone, and that Matsuda had left to make a phone call to that someone while he was out. They had noticed his lack of focus lately and attributed it to her. As it would have been for the past ten days he was unfocused, it was only natural that they would come to that conclusion. It was definitely still bothering him after that long, and that was definitely making him loose focus. He just hadn't expected anyone on the team, especially not Matsuda, to notice so quickly.

This could turn into a problem. Their next course of action would probably be to try to talk L into letting her back onto the team. He could only wait for that to happen, and continue trying to convince himself that he had done what he did for the sake of the investigation and for the sake of his and others' identities. No matter how much convincing he did, he never seemed to be very convinced, but maybe he would be after a while –

"Ryuzaki?"

"Yes?" he replied to Aizawa.

"You looked a little distracted. You were questioning Amane a minute ago."

"Oh."

As he continued to question Amane, he confirmed his suspicions. They knew he was having trouble focusing. They just weren't going to directly ask him about it yet.


	20. Chapter 19: Dignity and Regret

_Okay. Writing the last chapter cheered me up :D haha_

_This story has reached over 5,000 views so eeeeeeeeep!! Yay :)_

_And my last chapter got eight comments. RECORD!!_

_That made me happy when I logged in and saw that :D_

_Disclaimer: Blarg. I'm too lazy. Look at the Prologue chapter, there's one there._

* * *

It wasn't a surprise to hear a loud snore issue from the couch in the hotel room at around seven o' clock that evening. Matsuda obviously wasn't used to copious amounts of caffeine and irregular sleeping patterns. Five minutes after an hour long period of exclaiming that he was awake every time his name was mentioned, he had fallen over on the couch, passed out. The entire investigation team could inwardly breathe a sigh of relief at this purge of distraction.

"Now that Matsuda-san is no longer hitting his head on the ceiling at the mention of his name…" L said. "Do either of you know what he has been up to?"

"I don't know," Aizawa said, looking back at Matsuda. "If we had put him up to that, we would have made sure he was a little less obvious."

"I supposed you'd say something of that sort."

"What's that supposed to mean? You think I'm lying?"

"I'm not sure, but your suspiciousness is making that seem to be more likely."

_There's that idiotic word again_, L thought, shutting his eyes momentarily in annoyance.

"Ryuzaki, I assure you that if Matsuda has any sort of plan, we have nothing to do with it," Yagami said. "It is unlikely he does, or he would have in some way slipped up about it by now."

"And besides which," Aizawa said, "the thought of Matsuda coming up with a plan of any kind isn't that threatening."

"Probably not," L agreed negligently. "If he's not working on anything, there would be no purpose served in questioning him. He is obviously not helping in your plan."

And then there were the familiar sounds of an awkward silence. L's accusations often led to these silences, so he had grown used to them. They didn't particularly bother him anymore. They were only awkward at all for those being accused.

"W… we… what?" Aizawa said slowly. "What're you talking about?"

"Judging by your reaction, Aizawa-san, you at least know what I am talking about. I fell asleep last night and awoke to a somewhat more suspicious environment than what I've been used to over the past year of this investigation. I have a feeling I know what you're planning, and don't bother. There's absolutely no point in trying to convince me to do anything. You would just be wasting time that could be put to much better use in investigating Kira. I would suggest that you use your time to do that rather than waste it."

Yagami and Aizawa looked at him blankly. They knew exactly what he was talking about, there was no point in them trying to pretend that they didn't. Matsuda had left to call Katherine and try to talk her into coming back to the investigation team. Considering her pride, she probably said she wouldn't unless L asked her, since it had been his decision to get rid of her. If Yagami Light didn't act soon, it was presumable that she had been bluffing entirely about him having a plan.

As was usual lately, he stayed up all night in a state of such deep thought that may as well have been sleep, for as much as he lacked noticing around him. No matter how hard he tried not to, he came to the same conclusion over and over. The team did need her. They hadn't needed her when she first became a part of the team, but they did by the time she left. That was an unfriendly thought.

At about noon the next day, while he was questioning Amane Misa with absolutely no luck, his cell phone rang. He took it from his pocket and looked at the front.

"Yagami-kun…?"

This caused the rest of the team to pay closer attention.

"He says _us_ having his cell phone number could be a bad thing if Kira were to intercept the calls…" Matsuda said quietly.

"He probably just doesn't want to talk to you when you're not here," Aizawa said.

"Wha… oh, shut up."

"Yes…" L said into the cell phone. "I see. That's right…. Okay. We're in room K-2801."

L shut his phone.

_This isn't good_… L thought. _If I'd trusted what she was saying, this wouldn't be happening. Dammit, Yagami Light, what are you planning…?_

"My son is coming here?" Yagami asked.

"Yes. Matsuda-san –"

"I'm going…" he said.

He grumbled sardonically under his breath as he walked towards the door. As it turned out, Matsuda could be quite unpleasant durring a caffeine hangover. L would have to find somewhere else to hide his coffee to keep something like this from happening again. He returned a minute later with Light walking behind him. Matsuda sat on a sofa, staring at the coffee maker.

"Ryuzaki," Light said, "it is as I told you on the phone." The team was silent. "I may be Kira."

"_What?!_"

L listened vaguely as Yagami attempted to talk sense into his son, to talk him into taking back what he had just said. He couldn't help but wonder if this was one of the moments when she would have made a trademark smart-aleck comment, causing an uproar from Aizawa stating that it was a serious situation, resulting in Matsuda making an at least somewhat sensible comment, causing Aizawa to then call him an idiot and causing her to tell off Aizawa for calling her "brother" an idiot, then dimly asking what the original subject was when she finished telling him off. Thinking about it was a headache, but at least it had been mildly amusing when things such as that happened. This was somewhat boring.

_No…_ L thought to himself, sighing inwardly. _Am I starting to __**think**__ like her now? That can't be good. Or normal. At __**all.**_

"Dad, if Ryuzaki is L, then he's the best detective in the world. If L thinks I'm Kira, I probably am."

"Wh… Light!"

L looked back from his computer. "I'm ninety-nine percent sure that Light is Kira," he said. "So he is right to say this. I should be prepared to interrogate him soon."

_The reason you think you're Kira is because you are. _L thought as he looked back to his computer. _You know you're Kira. That damn Shinigami and its incessant laughter…. You kill with a Death Note, which means you should be able to see it. If we could get proof that you have spoken to it… then the team would think you were going insane, as they can't hear the thing. This isn't good at all. Dammit! If I had listened to her, then this wouldn't be happening…._

"I think that I may have subconsciously become Kira," Light said.

_Of course you did…_ L thought, glaring at his computer's screen to avoid doing so in Light's direction.

L half listened as Light began spouting about how he could have become Kira subconsciously. It was really pointless to listen intently at all, as L knew that Light knew he was Kira. This was the first part of his plan. What was the rest of it?

* * *

Around an hour ago, Katherine had locked and shut the door to her investigation room, leaving the key inside the room. She had felt content with this decision, as she didn't want to be tempted to watch the Kira investigation team. If she did, she only would have become more frustrated. If she couldn't get to her surveillance displays, she would be fine.

However, this thought had crossed her mind an hour ago. The only thought in her head now was how to pick the lock open with a hair pin. She swore as the door unlocked and she opened it, and she sat with her legs crisscrossed on the floor, tugging at her bottom lip as she stared at the blank television screens through the door way. She was being weak. What good would watching the investigation team bring her? She _did_ miss them, though….

_Wow_… a small voice said in her head suddenly. _You __**really**__ need to get a social life._

"Shut up!" she said aloud in her frustration.

She crossed her arms. This voice had been nagging her for the past twenty-four hours. It was the same type of voice she used to hear back in her house in the country-side in Ireland every time she began to feel lonely. Back in Ireland, it had sounded like the woman who owned the orphanage she used to stay at. Now, it sounded like L, of _all _the people who could have invaded her thoughts…. It was the most annoying voice in the world, as all it did was nag her about things. She _could_ just call that stupid letter-face and tell him what that stupid murderer had told her. It would have made things so much easier. She couldn't stand her own stubbornness.

_Stupid astrological Taurus bull thingy-ma-bob making me so damn stubborn abour crap…. This is about to drive me freaking nuts if it hasn't already. Don't even freaking know if I'm sane or not anymore_….

She looked down. She was still sitting on the floor like a small child durring story-time at pre-school. She made a frustrated noise as she stood up. Katherine reached around to the other side of the door, turned the lock on the doorknob, and slammed the door. She stared at it, and then walked over to the couch and sat down, quite content with her decision. She looked at the door again. Her mind went through about a hundred thoughts, then she walked back over to it.

_Fucking door…_ she thought to herself as she commenced picking the lock about thirty seconds after locking the key inside again. _I'll just go inside and see what's going on for a minute. That's all. If it's interesting, I'll leave the cameras on. If not, I'll leave. Simple. I won't turn into a television zombie._

So much for _that_ idea…. It had indeed been interesting when she turned on the television and saw that Light was "confessing" that he might be Kira. However, after a few hours of staring at the televisions sets with the glazed look of the dead in her eyes, she knew her inner-zombie had taken over and she couldn't do anything about it. She took a bite of her chocolate bar as she listened to L interrogating Light. He needed her help…. That was obvious. He was at least somewhat confused about Light's intentions when he played the _I-may-subconsciously-be-a-psycho-mind-killer_ card, and interrogating Light wasn't going to do any good. Light and Ryuk had probably developed some sort of code, some word for Light to say when Light forfeited his Death Note.

She felt like a complete idiot not for helping L. There really wasn't any excuse for it. Her only excuse when she had first been kicked off of the team had been that she had been awake for over half of the past week, living off of caffeine. Now, she was just being stubborn. Despite the fact that he had only been using her for the purpose of gaining information, she had the problem that she couldn't help but look at the son of a bitch as her friend. She was extremely angry with him, but that didn't stop her from feeling bad about not helping him with the Kira case. She knew something that would help him, and she was refraining from telling him out of her own spite. That was stupid and immature.

She took her cell phone out of her pocket and stared at it, debating with herself. It had been almost twelve days now. Katherine couldn't believe she actually missed staying awake for weeks at a time on nothing but caffeine and sugar. She missed the investigation itself. She hated that. She would have to swallow her pride and call him.

Katherine reached over onto the coffee table and started to turn down the volume going to the televisions. She stopped as she looked up, then continued turning down the volume, now grinning. She didn't have to bitterly give up her dignity and give him her information just to get back on an investigation team that didn't even want her there. She watched as L flipped open his own cell phone with a sigh. The rest of the team watched him as he dialed numbers, as did Katherine.

_I won!_ she thought gleefully. _I don't have to swallow my pride because __**you**__ gave up first! Ha!_

Her cell phone rang. She looked down and saw "Untraceable Caller" on the front screen. That was definitely L. However, she should pretend she didn't know. That would be best. That way, he wouldn't know she had been watching the team like a zombie on Ritalin. She flipped her phone open and held it to her ear.

"Oi," she said.

"This is –"

"Oh. You."

"We need you on the team," he said.

"Not going to force me to give you the information I have first? That's surprising."

She grinned at the look of exasperation on his face. "No, I won't. We are still in the same hotel room. Come here as soon as you can."

"What makes you think I'm not busy?"

"I didn't say immediately, I said as soon as you can."

"You _implied_ immediately."

"Then just get here eventually."

"Fine."

"Fine."

She snapped her phone shut, and then turned the volume back up for her monitors. The rest of the team had been watching L as he spoke on the phone curiously. The three of them seemed to refrain from speaking immediately, but Matsuda eventually asked the obvious question. Or, tried to at least.

"Was that –?"

"Yes," L said.

"Is she –??"

"_Yes._"

"She must be…" Aizawa said, "I can already feel a headache coming on."

Katherine laughed as she shut off the television sets. Naturally, she couldn't tell L about Kira's plan until after everyone else was asleep, but she wanted to get back there quickly. It was strange, but she had actually missed all of them. Over almost two weeks, she hadn't gotten into a completely ridiculous conversation about something completely irrelevant to the Kira case with Matsuda, triggering Aizawa's general reaction of calling them idiots, which generally resulted in an argument that lasted until Yagami would impatiently tell them to get focused. She _didn't_ miss L… the dumbass…

* * *

"Aizawa-san," L said, glancing up at the monitors as Katherine entered the lobby and stood by the door.

"That's Matsuda's job…" he complained.

"Sending Matsuda-san would result in her getting tackled and him possibly getting thrown out of the hotel by security."

"Hey!"

"Yeah, yeah," Aizawa said, walking past a very offended-looking Matsuda. "I'm going…"

Aizawa looked around once downstairs in the lobby. She had somehow managed to disappear in the ninety seconds it had taken him to walk down to the lobby. That was maddeningly annoying. How could anyone have managed to –

His thought was interrupted by a tackle from behind, accompanied by an excited and overly hyper whoop. He cringed a little.

"Oi, Aihara-san," she said, "'ow's everythin' been going?" She paused, realizing her sudden slip-up of English. "Oh, sorry," she said, switching languages quickly. "Much time as I've had to talk to myself over the past week and a half, I've gotten used to English again. Ryuzaki said the same room, right? Cool."

She took off at a fast pace towards the hallway where the stairs were.

Aizawa caught up with her at the door, where she was using a hairpin to pick the lock.

"Mattie and dumbass are arguing," she said, listening with her ear to the door as she picked the lock. "Or rather, Mattie's telling him off from the sounds of it. Any idea about what?"

"That depends," Aizawa said. "Who's dumbass?"

"Ryuzaki."

"Oh," he said, not fully comprehending. He decided it would probably be best not to ask.

The door unlocked. "I've been doing that a lot lately, too," she said. "I kept… uh… _accidentally_ locking important things inside rooms a lot. Lost my head for a while." She opened the door. "Mattie!"

Another tackle ensued her yell, resulting in another yell of surprise from Matsuda. After saying hello to Yagami-san and avoiding speaking to L entirely, she took a seat on a sofa while they all discussed the investigation. She participated and offered her own theories of what was wrong with Amane and whether or not Light could possibly be Kira, but she decided to ignore L when he addressed her directly. The sense of irritation and anger towards him was still there. That was something she had a feeling she would probably have a hard time getting over. However, the small headquarters did still feel more like a home than her actual home felt.

In fact, she _knew_ that the headquarters was her home when another argument between her and Aizawa was started an hour later. He had told her and Matsuda to stop being idiots when they started discussing names for the awesomely-cool rock band they were going to start after they had caught Kira. The argument ended in her calling Aizawa a stupid afro-head, and him rolling his eyes and leaving them to discuss their rock band.

She wasn't sure what she would do once the Kira investigation was over and done with. Perhaps she would celebrate that L would be gone entirely from her life. Probably not, judging by the feeling she got in her stomach at the thought. It wasn't so much a feeling in her stomach as it was a feeling that her stomach had disappeared. She was still angry with him, but she definitely wasn't in denial. She silently admitted to herself that she would, indeed, miss that crazy insomniac once the Kira case was over and he had to go back wherever he came from.

For now, however, she was mad at him, madder than she had ever been at anyone in her eighteen years of life. She wouldn't talk to him if her life depended on it. She supposed she could drag that on for about a week to perturb him, then blow up at him if he was still pestering her five days from now, ignore him for another day, and then start talking to him again. That seemed like a good plan.


	21. Chapter 20: Spontaneous Confusions

_I'm so awesome that I eat Hot Pockets with forks. Which I'm doing right now. So HA!_

_EEp. Randomness alert._

_I just misspelled "alert" as "alter" and had to change it haha. I'm really hyper XD Sorry… Aaaaaanywhozles._

_Disclaimer: see previous chapter._

* * *

The atmosphere of the investigation was as basically back to normal by the next morning with Katherine back. There was still the difference that she was completely ignoring everything L said to her, but everything else was basically the same. She and Matsuda got into a number of pointless conversations by the middle of the day, resulting in another general scolding from Aizawa, who couldn't stand listening to their constant debating over band names.

"Are you two ever going to shut up?" Aizawa asked, looking through paperwork.

"Well, you _know_," Katherine said, "we _were_ going to ask you to be our bass guitarist. But now we're not."

"Good."

"_Hey!_"

"Well –"

"Well nothing! You're a stup– eh?"

They grew silent as they heard Yagami speak – asking L to allow him to be removed from the investigation team. It was a terribly deathly silence. Katherine glanced at L to see his reaction, and immediately grew annoyed. He was absolutely expressionless as he sat in front of the computers he had monitoring Mira and Light, in his usual strange manner, eating a piece of cake. He was completely strange if _he_ wasn't alarmed by the suggestion. She subconsciously rolled her eyes before switching back to the subject that should be focused on.

"Chief!" Aizawa started.

"My son is suspected of being Kira, and is being detained. As his father, I'll naturally be biased against his confinement as a suspect. I even tried to prevent it from happening. Because of my bias, I have no right to be here."

"It is true that biased opinions are no good," L said, the fork in his hand poised near his mouth as he thought. "While I also agree that we shouldn't have you here at the moment. However, no matter what happens now, do not think about resigning."

_Oh, I'd like to punch him_, Katherine though, glaring at L. _Feelingless bastard. I could probably snap him like a twig…._

"Ryuzaki," Yagami said after a moment. "If there is this much of a case against my son, that alone should be enough reason for me to resign."

"The only people who know your son is suspected are on this team," L said. "So if you are going to resign, do it only in the event that your son is proven to be Kira."

L's words always seemed to bring about uncomfortable silences. Maybe not always, but it seemed that they did at least ninety-nine percent of the time. That was another thing Katherine could add to her rapidly growing _why-I-hate-L_ list. She rolled her eyes towards the ceiling and sat back against the sofa, waiting for someone to say something. _Anything_ would have been nice.

"Then imprison me as well."

_Okay_, Katherine thought, looking back at L and Yagami. _That was random. Maybe __**not**__ anything, then._

"I may be calm enough now, but I'm afraid of what trouble I may bring to the investigation as a suspect's father."

"I thought there was a possibility you would ask for this," L said, "so I have had Watari start making preparations already."

_Does things without consulting anyone beforehand_, Katherine thought to herself. _There's something else to add. Granted, I tend to do that too, but… oh, L's an ass, it doesn't matter._

"Even if you are imprisoned, however," L said, "you must keep your cell phone turned on and call your family and the outside world occasionally so they do not suspect anything strange. Light will not be allowed to know about this, and if it happens that he is not Kira, he will also not be told under that situation. We will also still be briefing you on everything regarding the investigation. Is that alright?"

"Yes," Yagami said. "Thank you, Ryuzaki. I owe you."

_I think L just likes imprisoning people_, Katherine thought to herself.

All of the eye-rolling she was doing at him was starting to make her dizzy. It would probably be a good idea to stop. She was angrier with him now more than ever, and she didn't know why. It had been Yagami's suggestion, but part of her mind was searching for a way to blame it on L. That part of her mind had been rather overactive lately. She was sure that if it tried hard enough, it could probably find a way to blame him for something like the Second World War.

* * *

It had been three days since Yagami was imprisoned. Katherine still wasn't talking to L, and this didn't particularly surprise L much, despite the fact he was still attempting to get her to speak. He was almost starting to regret asking her to come back to the team, but getting rid of her was out of the question. Letting her go had caused him to feel guilt. He didn't like guilt one little bit. He was somewhat happy now, as she had said the first word she had said to him in two weeks on that day. Of course, it had been somewhat short and ill-tempered due to the fact that he had to pester her for five minutes before she would even regard the fact that he was attempting to ask her a question about the Kira case. Even so, it was speech. That was _something_.

He wasn't going to bother her about Light's plan, at least not just yet. His main goal was _only_ to get her to speak to him again, as cooperation was required for the entire investigation team to get along… although, he had to admit it was partially because she was basically the only person on the team he enjoyed talking to. He didn't mind the rest of the team (except maybe Matsuda, who had been getting on his nerves a _lot_ more than usual lately), but he didn't actually consider them _friends_, not like he considered her. He had been working with them for more than a year longer than he had been with her, but he got along with her twice as well for some reason. It made things a little bit tedious now that she wasn't talking to him.

A voice came from the computer, interrupting his ponderings.

"How's it been so far, Ryuzaki?" Light's voice asked from the computer. L looked at that portion of the screen. "Have any criminals that Kira would have been likely to kill been reported or killed?"

"They have been reported," L said, "but none have died, not since your confinement."

"Stalker-san!" Misa's voice came from another screen, "I need to take a bath! You probably know where I live, so could you bring me a change of clothes?"

"_Man, I wanna eat an apple…_" L heard an echoic voice say. He glanced at Light's screen to see his Shinigami looking out through the bars.

"The murdering stopped?" Light asked, sounding alarmed. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Then it seems like it won't be long before I can be identified as Kira…"

"It's only been a few days so far," L said. "It could easily be a coincidence."

_Coincidence?_ Katherine sniggered to herself, looking over at the other three from the couch. _That doesn't sound like you, L. At least you've figured out he's up to __**something**__._

"Ryuzaki, how's Misa doing? Has she given any hints of who Kira could be?"

"Light-kun, the investigation is happening with Amane placed as the second Kira and you as the first. Therefore, I cannot give you any information we have."

"Ah, that's pretty strict," Light said. "I'm also doing this to figure out who the first and second Kiras are."

_Well isn't __**that**__ a load of deep-fried bologna…_ Katherine thought to herself. _Eh? Deep-fried bologna…? Hmm. Appears my mind still hasn't recovered from the blow it took by being alone with its own thoughts for eleven days._ Katherine shook herself mentally, trying to refocus. _He knows who Kira is. He __**is**__ still Kira. I can still hear Ryuk complaining about apples… that means Light still hasn't forfeited the Death Note. Ryuk will probably show some sign that Light has gotten rid of it when he does, which will let me know. Good lord, apples must be like drugs to that poor creature,_ she thought, almost laughing as Ryuk purposely hit his head on the cell's iron bars, then continued on about how he needed an apple.

* * *

"Are you on our side?"

Katherine made a frustrated noise and looked over at the computers, where L was still sitting. She glared at him, but he didn't notice, as he wasn't looking. She stood up and walked over to the computers.

"I'm against Kira, if that's what you're asking," she said disdainfully, sitting down in front of the computers as well.

"Then why haven't you given any mention about Kira's plans yet? I figured you would once you came back to the investigation team."

"Because I don't want to talk to you."

"That's a rather childish reason to not give information that could thwart a mass murderer."

"You call _everything_ childish," she said with an exasperated sigh. "Why should I listen when you call me childish? You apparently lie a lot, too, so I'm not too worried about it."

It had been four days since Katherine had returned to the investigation team, and she still hadn't told L of Kira's plans. Katherine had to admit, she was being a little… okay, _very_ childish, but something was clicking in her mind lately every time she heard L speak that made her act in such a way. She wanted to tell him Kira's plans, but that part of her mind that still hated him, and it wasn't going to allow her to say anything unless he apologized or admitted he was wrong for letting her go, which he hadn't actually done yet. As they both had too much pride for their own good, it seemed that it was unlikely anything would ever happen. They were the only two awake at that time, and the other two were lucky they were asleep. They would probably cower in fear if they woke up to such a hostile environment. The air in the room seemed almost murderous.

About thirty minutes past in which neither of them said another word. L was wondering why she wouldn't talk, whether in a disdainful manner or otherwise. Katherine was shooting annoyed looks at him every five minutes. Or seconds. It didn't really matter, she was still annoyed with him. She wasn't sure why, but lately it seemed the fact that he had to exist caused it more than anything else. After about thirty-five minutes, he finally noticed the glares he was constantly receiving.

"What?" he asked, looking over.

"Nothing…" Katherine said in an airy manner, looking back at the computer screen.

The same intimidating silence weighed down upon them for another five minutes, before she shot him another look of pure evil.

"_What?_" he asked impatiently.

"_Nothing_," she answered through gritted teeth.

"Then stop glaring."

"I'll glare at whatever I want to glare at." L rolled his eyes, looking back at the computer. "Don't roll your eyes at me," she said warningly.

"I'll roll my eyes at whatever I want to roll them at…" he grumbled in imitation.

"Just don't complain when they get popped out of your head, then," she said in her favorite sarcastically airy tone.

"If you have any kind of problem, then feel free to share it."

"Tell _you_ my problem?" She scoffed. "I don't see the point. I talk to my friends about my problems, and I've come to find out recently that friends are completely overrated."

Another silence, but not quite as hostile. This one seemed to give off a feeling of apprehension. She looked over at L to see he was chewing his thumbnail nervously now. She smiled to herself. It appeared that thought had managed to get though his thick skull.

_That would explain…_ L thought to himself. _She thinks I was using her, I mainly let her go because I was afraid of blurting out anything else about my past_…._ This whole "friends" thing is horribly puzzling_…._ She's bound to be hostile if she thinks something such as that… would she believe me if I told her why, even…? She probably wouldn't. Perhaps asking her…_

"Why do you believe I let you out of the team?"

"'Let me out of'?" Katherine said. She stared up at the ceiling. "That's a way to put it."

"You know what I mean."

Katherine looked at him. L was still biting his thumbnail, not looking over. She looked back up at the ceiling, afraid she might accidentally say something friendly if she didn't look away. He looked absolutely pitiful in his confusion.

"My usefulness had run out, as far as you could see, so you let me go," she said tonelessly. "I had overstayed my welcome. It didn't appear as though I would be much more of a help. You also don't trust me anymore, which means I have no reason to trust you, either."

"What caused you to think that was the reason?"

"You don't know?"

"I may or I may not, which is why I am asking you."

"You look at everything like an investigation," she said with a sigh. "Fine. It's because you said you would only let me back onto the team if I gave you information about Kira's plan first. That means that you would only let me back on the team if the information I had was useful. You weren't willing to let me back on the team _until_ I gave you the information because you didn't even trust that I was telling the truth." She didn't sound as hostile now. She sounded rather glum, if nothing else. "If I'm not useful and you can't trust me, then there's no point in having me on the team, so I was kicked off of it."

L swallowed. She was right. He hadn't trusted that she wasn't bluffing. When she first said Kira had a plan, he did believe her, though, he just wanted to make sure the plan was important beforehand. He was afraid to keep her on the team mostly for the sake of his own identity. She knew more about him than anyone he had ever worked on a case with did at this point, and if he slipped up any more, then she could find out about all the others. That was the main reason, but she wouldn't have known that. He couldn't have explained it to her at the time, as it the rest of the team had been right there.

He had told himself she was bluffing for quite a while, but that hadn't been because he didn't believe what she said. That had been for the sake of trying to convince himself he wasn't completely stupid for letting her go. That had been the only reason. He still couldn't help but believe that everything she said was true, which wasn't normal for him at all.

"It's true, then, isn't it?" she said. "That you don't trust me?"

He tried to think of something to say that wouldn't make her angry.

"I apologize if my intentions seemed different than they were. It was probably a little misleading…"

"Misleading?" The hostility was back in her voice. "If that's the case, then that couldn't be considered _misleading_, it's considered to be _mean_."

"That wasn't the case at all," he said. "I didn't mean for it to…. I needed to let you go because you're… you're _too_ good at finding things out."

"That's kind of required to solve the…" She trailed off, her facial expression changing in remembrance. "Oh. The thing where… right."

"I was going to agree to let you back onto the team depending on how important the information you had regarding Kira was. If it was important enough, you would be let back on, but not because you were 'useless' at the time. I am not permitted to talk freely about my past, so disclosing random pieces of it is completely out of the question, whether by accident or on purpose. I saw no other way to prevent it from happening again."

"So," she said slowly, "the main problem was that you trust me too much?"

That was one way to put it…. Indeed, he had trouble being skeptical about anything she said. He probably would have believed her if she randomly stated that she was actually from the third millennium and had traveled back in time because she learned about Kira in her history class. Farfetched as it sounded in his own mind, her saying it out loud would have made it sound truer, strange as it was.

Seeing the contemplative look on his face, Katherine grinned, realizing she had just confused him again. He had apologized, but not for kicking her out of the investigation. He had apologized for the way something he said had sounded. She was glad that he had apologized about _anything_, but she was still angry with him. That would probably last for a while longer, though, regardless of whether he apologized or not, or said it was wrong for him to have kicked her off of the team.

"Well," she said, interrupting his musings. He looked over. "Why did you tell me, then?"

"I… wasn't really trying too. I stopped thinking."

"Have you ever had that problem in the past?"

"… No."

"Have you ever trusted anyone in the past?"

"Not really."

"Then that's probably it." She smiled, figuring it was worth a shot to ask. "One other question. Have you ever admitted to being wrong in the past?"

"I'm not saying I was wrong," he said, looking back at the computer.

She laughed. "It was worth a shot."

They sat in another silence for the next few minutes, watching the motionless Light, Misa, and Yagami in their cells. Ryuk was pacing around and mumbling about apples under his breath. The silence, while it didn't give off a feeling that someone in the room was about to commit murder, was still intimidating. After a few moments, she heard L speak.

"I will apologize."

"I know," she said dismissively. "The way you said it came out wrong and all that."

"No," he said. She looked over, but he was still looking at the computer screen. "For dismissing you from the investigation."

L glanced over, only to see a look on her face indicating triumph. He sighed inwardly, expecting to hear a fair amount of gloating in a moment's time, and looked back at the computer.

"Matsuda did say over the phone that it seemed like you missed me."

"I… did," he admitted quietly.

She smiled. "I'm sure that if I hadn't spent the past two weeks thinking of you as an ass, I would've missed you too."

_Well… he was nice enough to apologize…_

"And I'm sorry for acting like a bratty child."

He looked over. "Then are you going to say anything about Kira's plans?"

She looked at him. "You don't think about anything else ever, do you?"

His eyes moved around for a moment as he thought. "… It's an important case…" he said slowly. "I probably shouldn't think about anything else, it could distract me."

She grinned. "You mean like you were distracted for the past week and a half?"

He looked at her blankly for a moment, and then looked back at the computer screen without saying anything else. She laughed.

"I'm only kidding," she said.

He mumbled something, sounding slightly irritated. She noticed him glare in the direction of the couch Matsuda was asleep on.

L heard her laugh a little as he glared at the computer screen, chewing on his thumbnail. How much _had_ that idiot told Katherine on the phone on his caffeine high? Definitely enough things that she didn't need to know, for the reason that she could easily use them against him for her own amusement. She seemed to enjoy doing that….

"I'm sorry," she said, still laughing under her breath. "Unlike some people, I actually need to make up for sleep when I'm lacking it. I'll have to tell you Kira's plan tomorrow."

There was silence for a moment, and then he felt her arms loop around his neck, causing him to inadvertently jump. He was sure he heard her laugh for a moment, or giggle. He couldn't really tell the difference.

"You're too paranoid all the time," she said quietly.

She laid her head on his shoulder for a moment before pulling her arms away. Before standing, she kissed him on the cheek. All at once, he stopped chewing on his thumbnail, his eyes became fixated unblinkingly on the computer screen with a look of confusion in them, and his cheeks became slightly flushed.

"Good night."

She stood up and looked down at him. He looked something like a statue in this state. He definitely didn't seem like he was about to reply to her good night.

_Well_, she thought in amusement as she walked back to her chair, _I'm probably the first person to ever put him in a statuesque state of confusion and make him blush, especially at the same time._

L glanced over as she sat down in the chair sideways with her back to most of the room. He looked back at the computer.

_Dammit_… he thought. _Confusing me __**again**_…._ She must __**really**__ think this is funny…_

Yes, she probably did think it was hilarious. She probably knew that thousands of thoughts were _still_ racing through his mind about how to react or what in the world she could have meant by it or how long it would take her to mention it to see if she could confuse him again. She definitely knew it. There was no way that she couldn't have known it. They were only friends, though. They had already decided that. They were only friends, so there was no way it could have meant anything… right? Right. It couldn't have meant anything… could it…?

In this frustrated state of confusion, he somehow had managed to chew off his thumbnail without noticing. He switched to his index finger, still wondering if she had only done it _to_ confuse him. Once again, her impulsive nature had rendered the world's "greatest" detective absolutely baffled. If he was named such a genius by the general public, then why was it so hard to figure out what in the world game she was trying to play? It didn't seem to make any sense. He had a feeling that finding out who Kira was going to have been easier than trying to figure _her_ out, and that she would probably drive him the rest of the way to insanity before the case was entirely over.

* * *

_As an end note:_

_I got nine reviews on my last chapter so yay! This story also now has over 6,000 views._

_So -hugs- thank you AGAIN!!_

_A thanks to everyone who's been reviewing and the 33/37 people who have added this to their favorites/alerts list._

_A thanks in particular to Volital, Miorochi, White Alchemist Taya, Princesa de la Luna, fowlgirl19, MoonCrisis, Happycookbook, and Twitch-Lawliet for reviewing the past umpteen chapters of this story and a few of my other stories :)_

_Also, to clear up the lock misunderstanding in the last chapter's reviews: the hotel was just awesome enough to not have keycard locks and still have oldschool locks. Because it's… uh… awesome and stuff.  
But in all seriousness, I just wasn't thinkin about it, haha.  
Srry aboot that. I can't exactly change it now, though, it wouldn't make much sense if I did.  
So we're just going to go with the oldschool lock theory._

_On another note entirely, the random word of the day is "Anywhozles."  
Just thought I should let everyone know._


	22. Chapter 21: Forfeit

_OMG!! hugs everyone who commented on the last chapter_

_New record! 11 comments on one chapter in less than 24 hours, and a total of thirteen all together! EEP! You're all so awesome!!_

_Anywhozles._

_Disclaimer: see previous chapter.  
I also do not own the song "Ballroom Blitz" that is mentioned in the story, and I wish it would get the freak out of my head because it's going to drive me bonkers if it stays there._

_And "bonkers" is the word of tomorrow since today is almost over. It's not a made up word, but it's one of the most awesome non-made-up words ever._

* * *

It took a great amount of effort to get up the next morning, but Katherine still somehow managed to wake up first. She yawned as she stood up, a little louder than she had intended, and managed to stand up on a pair of legs that didn't seem to want to function properly. The first thought that crossed her mind was no different than the same thought that had crossed her mind every morning since she was fourteen and moved into her own house: coffee. And lots of it.

She managed to stumble over to the coffee maker on the other side of the room, situated near the computers being used for monitoring Misa, Light, and Yagami. She glanced over upon hearing a voice.

_Well_, she thought, listening to Misa's yelling, _I'm not the __**first**__ person awake in the room, apparently_…

Katherine picked up the coffee pot and took a cup from the same table. She managed to pour out a two cups of coffee without spilling any on the table, which was amazing for her that early in the morning. A glance at her watch as she was idly dropping sugar cubes into both cups told her it was only six o' clock. That meant both Aizawa and Matsuda wouldn't wake up for at least another hour to an hour and a half. With another involuntary yawn, she walked over to the lap tops on the table and prodded L in the side with her boot to wake him up. His eyes snapped open like any insomniac's would if they made the mistake of falling asleep for more than thirty minutes.

"Paranoid?"

He blinked a few times, looking at the computer screens in front of him, and then mumbled something in response; he wasn't entirely sure what he'd said, and it didn't seem to have come out as words. He heard a familiar laugh, and a hand put a cup of coffee in front of the computer screen he was looking at. He stared at it for a moment before picking it up and looking inside it suspiciously. Coffee…?

"It's not poisoned, you know," a voice said from next to him.

He stared at the brownish liquid in the cup for a moment before comprehending the voice. That explained the coffee. He scratched the top of his head, thinking for a moment.

_This is why I don't sleep…_ he thought to himself.

"Why?"

He looked over sharply. "What? I didn't say anything."

"You said…" She shook her head. "Never mind."

He looked at her suspiciously for a moment longer before turning his head back to the computer.

_So she __**can**__ read minds…_

He glanced over at her when she laughed again.

"What?"

"You're saying all this out loud, you know. Well, mumbling it, but still. I can hear you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. And I was going to go on ahead and tell you about Kira's plan, but I think you should _probably_ drink your coffee first."

He looked back down in the cup he was holding, deciding as he took a sip of coffee that she was lying about him mumbling. He would have heard himself if he'd just been mumbling. She could obviously read his mind. If he had been mumbling, he would have known it, there was no questioning it. He wasn't deaf, as he could hear her, meaning that since he didn't hear himself speak, she was reading his mind. The question was, _how_….

"Okay, fine, I'm reading your mind."

He looked over at her sharply again. "Stop it."

She laughed as she was trying to take a sip of her own coffee. "I was only kidding," she said. "You really are mumbling. A lot."

"No I'm not."

"If you say so…"

Now silently – or at least, he _hoped _it was silently – deciding that sleeping durring the Kira case _ever_ again was completely out of the question, he looked back at the computer screens and took another sip of coffee. Even though he knew he wasn't, he was starting to think he was delusional, and he really was mumbling everything he was thinking, although it was just as likely that she was brainwashing him, especially considering that he was still half asleep. Hopefully, the coffee would help that.

* * *

"Coffee must be working," she said. "It seems you've regained the ability to think without mumbling."

Indeed, the coffee had managed to help by the time he finished drinking it. Unfortunately, it had also triggered his memory of the previous night, meaning that listening to her talk was going to a lot harder to do than normal with his mind still confusing itself over trying to figure out what she had meant by it. However, it was about the Kira case. It was something that was very important about the Kira case, meaning not listening was going to be completely out of the question.

Katherine looked at the screen with Light Yagami's picture on it. His Shinigami was beginning to get a little bent out of shape. What was strange was that he was _literally_ getting bent out of shape. His arm seemed to be twisted back behind his head in some way or another, and he was complaining about apples more than ever. This must have been some sort of strange thing that happened to Shinigami when they experienced symptoms of withdrawal. It looked a little bit painful, but it was still quite funny.

"Kira's plan," she said. "Right. He's already went through the first part of his plan, as I'm sure you have figured out. His first part of the plan was turning himself in, saying that he though he might have been Kira on a subconscious level without _meaning_ to be Kira, which is obviously a lie."

"Yes…" L agreed. "I knew that much. What's bothering me is why he would turn himself in. It doesn't seem like the best plan in the world."

"Rem," Katherine said.

"R… Amane's Shinigami? What about it?"

"Misa left her Death Note in Light's hands," she said. "So when Rem talked Misa into forfeiting her Death Note, it was left under the ownership of Light to do whatever he wanted to with it. So she – meaning Rem – was forced to hang around with Light, which she is no longer doing. Shinigami are bound to their Death Notes, so there has to be a reason Rem isn't with him."

L thought for a moment. If Yagami had two Death Notes…. He obviously only needed one if he was going to play Kira. He couldn't write in either, due to his plan, which meant he technically didn't need _either_. It seemed only logical that he would have gotten rid of one of them, along with the other Shinigami, although Rem probably would have been better company than the apple addict in his cell with him at that moment. However, Rem seemed a tad more apt to pay attention to instructions, especially if it involved protecting Misa.

"Yagami-kun got rid of Rem's notebook for part of his plan," L said slowly. "I would say that this was so another Kira could be chosen by Rem, but the murders haven't started since Light was confined, so he is incriminating himself right now."

"Seems like that has to be a drawback of his plan," she said. "Light said he was going to specifically have a Death Note dropped off for a corporate nut job that would use the notebook for personal gain, and be easier to capture because of it. Naturally, he would use the notebook to give whatever company he works for an advantage. Apparently, Rem hasn't yet found the perfect person to give the notebook to. I don't see why Rem would listen to Light, but…"

"Misa," L said. "Light-kun would have told Rem something like 'This will take suspicion from Misa, too.' That would have made Rem agree, because Rem seems to want to protect Misa. Had Light's Shinigami been hers, then Misa would have been killed when she was begging for death, as Light's Shinigami seems to be in this purely for entertainment."

"And apples…" Katherine added thoughtfully. "Besides the point. Yes, Rem does seem to want to protect Misa a great deal. I get the feeling that she dropped Misa's Death Note under instruction of someone else. Shinigami are like humans in a lot of ways, one of those ways being that they have different personalities. Rem isn't the type of Shinigami who would drop a Death Note in the middle of the road for her own entertainment. Ryuk is."

"It makes sense that Light-kun would want suspicion taken away from him," L said. "But is that all there is to his plan?"

"No. He's going to get the other Death Note back. He's going to get rid of his own as well, because he needs someone like Misa on his side. Someone completely loyal to him who will do anything he says without any questions asked. His other Death Note is buried. When he forfeits it, Ryuk will fly off somewhere. Probably either back to his own world or somewhere here with apples. Light will loose his memory of being Kira, and he will then want to join the investigation team. Once he is cleared of suspicion, he expects that you will agree to let him join, and he will help locate the new Kira. Then the Death Note will be discovered. While he holds the Death Note, his memories will be recovered, so he will have to kill the new owner while the Death Note is in his hands, unnoticed by anyone."

"How's he planning to do that? It seems… unless he has a small piece hidden somewhere that he won't remember unless he touches the Death Note."

"Exactly," she said. "Hidden compartment in his watch. Now, there is no saying you even have to accept him onto the team, you know."

"Yes there is."

"Eh?"

"Once he's cleared of suspicion, Yagami-san won't let me give Light-kun 'no' as a valid answer to the request."

"Ah. Right. That's a problem."

"It seems there would be no way to keep an eye on him at all times. It would be a bad thing to do."

"You could say you still suspect him and Misa," she said, "and keep them under your watch at all hours without actually having to confine them like this. The only option I see for that to be possible is for you to handcuff yourself to Light, though."

"Hmm."

Katherine laughed. "You're not actually considering it, are you? I was only joking."

"The problem is," he said, "is that it is the only logical way to keep an eye on him."

"The team would also expect it. It seems like something that L would to do prove his suspicions right. And also," she said slowly, "in my personal opinion, I don't think Light would have any problems with it. He might act like he does. But I'm not entirely sure about his… let's say _preferences_ in the dating department, for lack of a kinder way to put it." She received a glare. She laughed. "I'm only saying that he's probably the most high-maintenance person I've ever met who isn't female. So be careful if you _do_ chain yourself to him."

"Why?"

"Because he might be g–"

"I mean why are you taking the idea completely out of context?"

"Because it's fun. I can ask him if you don't want to."

"What?"

"If he's a fa–"

"Don't."

"You're no fun…. You know, if _I_ were being chained to a person of the same gender, I'd appreciate knowing that they weren't going to attempt to –"

"How long are you going to go on about this?"

"Until I find something else that's more amusing."

"Do you have any idea when that will be?"

"Nope. Move over."

"Wha–?"

"Move over," she said, pushing him over. She pressed the button on the microphone that led into Light's cell.

"What're you–?"

"Nap time's over, Kira-face," she said into the microphone. Light, who had been asleep on the bench in his cell, nearly fell off, but managed to sit up without doing so. Ryuk cackled – that had been the most entertainment he'd had in five days, after all.

"What…?"

"I have a question."

"You're not going to…?" L started.

"What is it?" Light asked

"Where did you burry the Note?"

"Wha… who…?"

"It's Katherine," she said. "Ryuzaki is asleep. Do you really expect anyone else would call you Kira-face? There's no telling when he could wake up, so hurry up."

"Why do you want to know?"

"It would be easier to get the Note to Misa this way, after you've gotten your memory back. I could keep it with me so no one else accidentally digs it up or something, because while that is very unlikely, it could happen and it could cause problems."

"Who would go digging in the middle of the woods?"

"I don't know," she said. "But you can't deny that it is possible that it could happen. Say someone was looking to hide some drugs or something, and they dug in the exact same place as you, and found that notebook. Who'd want a junky in possession of a Death Note?"

"You're really not making any sense…"

"Listen," she said quietly. "I know that it's unlikely, but I believe that Ryuzaki could have had someone following you when you buried it. I don't think he trusts me entirely, which is within reason, seeing as I'm on your side, so he wouldn't tell me if he did or not. I imagine I could pry the information out of Matsuda if I tried hard enough, but it might end up being too late by the time I did. It would be better for me to get to it before anyone else does."

Light was a little more nervous now. He had never considered the possibility that L might have still been having him followed. Naturally, if someone had followed him to where he had buried the Death Note, L would want the area Light would have been seen burying it to be excavated. Katherine _seemed_ to be on his side, but it was still hard to trust her. No one knew anything about her. It wasn't a wonder that L didn't trust her entirely, and he was definitely smart not to.

"I'm not giving up where I buried it," Light said.

"Alright," she said. "That's fine. If it does get excavated by someone on Ryuzaki's side, then I'm sorry. If you feel that you can't trust me, however, I don't blame you. You don't know anything about me, which means that I'm not the best ally. Ryuzaki's moving, I think he's awake," she said quietly. "I'll tell him I was interrogating Misa." She lifted her finger up from the microphone. "Was worth a shot…" she said with a shrug. She looked at L. "What?"

"How long did that plan take to be devised?"

"That one?" She laughed. "That was just off the top of my head. Sorry 'bout that, though. I bet you thought I was about to ask him if he was – Oh, stop rolling your eyes… you'll be lucky if you still _have_ eyes by the end of the Kira case at that rate. Since that plan didn't work, I should probably spontaneously come up with another one in the future…"

"Right…" L said slowly.

"You keep being sarcastic, I'll buzz back into Light's cell and tell him that you want to handcuff yourself to him."

"I _don't –_"

"Of _course_ you don't. The question is, will Light believe that?" More glaring. She laughed again. "You're just too cute when you're trying to look angry."

The glare turned into a look of confusion, and then he looked back at the computer screens. She laughed and stood up, picking up her coffee cup from the table as she stood.

"You'll be alright eventually," she said to him, amusement engulfing her tone.

She pat him on the head as she walked past towards the coffee maker. She received yet another glare for this, one that clearly said _I'm-not-a-dog_. She laughed again. He gave up and looked back at his computer

* * *

Two days later, it had been exactly a week since Light had been placed in confinement. He had the distinctive look of a maddened serial killer sitting there. His eyes were narrowed, bloodshot, and dark, and he had an odd look of evil about him. At least, that's what Katherine could gather from looking at him. It didn't seem he was the one who was out to kill however.

"It's been _two days_," Aizawa said through gritted teeth, glaring over the top of a sheet of paper at Katherine, who stopped whistling. "Stop humming that ridiculous song."

"You don't even know the name of it," she taunted.

"I don't _care_, stop it."

"Okay."

She continued whistling. The song was annoyingly recognizable.

"Would you _stop_ already??"

"You said stop humming. And I wasn't _humming_ in the first place."

"Whistling, then! Stop that! And stop laughing, this isn't funny!" he snapped at Matsuda.

"Don't snap at – oh, screw this."

She set down the information she was supposed to be reviewing on the table. She had been more focused on whistling "Ballroom Blitz" until an argument ensued, as the paperwork was starting to get boring and she had wanted something more interesting to do. As the argument didn't seem like it was going to be an overly entertaining one, she wanted to see how close Light was getting to snapping. She stood up.

"You've got work to do, too," Aizawa said.

"So do you," she said, stopping. "So stop attempting to tell me off and do it."

She walked over to the computers and kneeled down. Light looked just as insane as she remembered he had three hours ago. She looked at him over L's shoulder, her eyebrows raised. His Shinigami was _really_ bent out of shape now. The poor thing looked like its legs had been turned around backwards, and it was standing on its hands. Its arms were almost twisted into a knot. She refrained from laughing at its begging for an apple.

"He's kind of scary right now," she said quietly.

L pressed the button on the microphone leading to his cell. "Yagami-kun," he said into that microphone. "It's only been one week so far, and you still look rather drained. Are you alright?"

"Yeah…" Light said. "Even I can't think I'm in good shape like this, but I have to forfeit my pride."

Katherine noticed him glance quickly over at the upside down Shinigami. Ryuk managed to invert himself to an upright position. His wings spread out.

"_Eh?_" Something seemed to have triggered his memory. "Okay. Later."

He flew through the wall, still looking quite twisted. The chain of events that followed were almost unimaginable. It seemed that what had triggered Ryuk's memory completely slipped from Light's. His eyes became less narrow, and a look of worried realization dawned upon his face. Katherine's eyes narrowed now. "Forfeit." That had been the code word for him to get rid of his Death Note, his Shinigami, and his memory. She glanced at L. The look on his face indicated that he also realized this. Light, however, obviously had no idea. He didn't even remember the twister, apple-eating reaper that had just been in the room with him. The look on his face was one that clearly said "_What am I doing here??_" but in a sense that he knew why he was there, just that he didn't know why he had asked to have been put there.

"Ryuzaki," he said, his tone suddenly changing. This seemed to get Matsuda and Aizawa's attention as well, as they both looked back from where they were. "I… know I was the one who suggested this, to be imprisoned, but… I know I'm not Kira now. There's no point to it. You have to let me out."

There was silence around the room. All Matsuda and Aizawa had seen was a sudden change in mood from Light, a sudden return to who he used to be. He wasn't a depressed murder suspect anymore. He was handling the situation as Light Yagami, rather than Kira, would have. That was what they saw, anyway. What Katherine and L saw was the next step of Light Yagami's plan completed. Things didn't seem to be going particularly smoothly.

* * *

_Eeep!! I can't believe I got thirteen comments on the last chapter!! _

_I love you all. _

_I now proclaim everyone who commented on the last chapter my new best friends. _

_THANK YOU!!_


	23. Chapter 22: Extensive Research

_ONE HUNDRED F–CKING REVIEWS!!1111!!11!111!!ELEVEN!!1!oNe1!_

_Sorry. Had to get that out of my system. But OMG! Thankyou!!_

_Discombobulator – I don't own anything. Yeah. And all that. Right._

_Before I start, I'mma answer a question I got in my comment: This is not an LxLight fic. However, there will still be random mentions of Light's possible queerdo-ness. Manymany mentions. Just because I can XD_

* * *

The investigation team listened to Light's testimony to why he couldn't possibly be Kira. The majority of them listened, rather. At least seventy-five percent of them did. The other twenty-five percent was humming arbitrary classic rock songs under her breath again, for which she received a glare from a different quarter of the team. Katherine glared back, but stopped humming. There was no point of listening to the load of bull that Light was spouting at them. After all, he was in his right mind again. There was no point served in listening to him if he was actually _sane_. She sighed and listened anyway.

"I know I'm the one who suggested this," Light was saying, "but I know the truth now. I'm not Kira, there's no point to this! Let me out."

L paused for a moment, thinking of an answer that would indicate to the half of the team that didn't know what was going on that he _also_ didn't know. He had of course seen the Shinigami walk through the wall, but only he and Katherine knew that, which meant that they were both going to have to play dumb… not to the point of randomly whistling Queen songs, but it was pointless trying to stop _her_. After another glare at Aizawa, who had apparently glared at her again, she stopped. For the moment, at least.

"Absolutely not," L said into the microphone leading to Light's cell. "You requested that we didn't let you out until it was proven without a doubt that you weren't Kira. That hasn't happened yet."

"I know what I said," Light said, "but something was wrong with me then, I don't know how. Do you really think it would be possible for _anyone_ to be as brutal of a killer as Kira without even _knowing_ it?? I _can't_ be Kira!"

"I also believe Kira is aware of who he is," L said, "However, saying that you aren't Kira doesn't mean that you're not. The murders stopped the moment you were imprisoned. I believe that you are hiding the fact that you're Kira."

"I'm not lying," Light said, "I'm not Kira. I believe I'm here because I was set up _by_ Kira."

"The only people who know of your imprisonment are on the investigation team, Light-kun."

"Then someone there must be Kira!" he said. "Let me out of here so I can help with the investigation! This is a waste of time, just let me out…"

"Absolutely not," L said. "You cannot be released until it is proven that Kira is someone else."

* * *

"Wow," Katherine said, looking at the computer screen. "I think that Shinigami was all that was keeping him sane… well, saner than he is right now. Ya know?"

"Hmm."

It was midnight, and the very start of day ten of Light's confinement. He looked like he was already cracking after only about three days without that Shinigami bugging him about apples.

"Thinking about it," Katherine said slowly, "this means that if you give an insane person sanity, they'll just waste it by going nuts again, you know?"

"I think," L said, obviously not paying much attention, "that we're going to have to keep Light-kun, Misa, and Yagami-san in confinement even after the new Kira makes his first appearance."

"Wh… why…?"

"It's something that L would do if he didn't know what Light Yagami was really up to," L said.

"Ah," she said. "Thinking like yourself. Smart move. I… guess."

"I'll elaborate. If I didn't know what was going on right now, I would probably be just as confused as anyone else on the team. However, no matter what, I would still suspect Light-kun."

"Mm-hmm…"

"So, I would want to keep him from knowing that Kira had returned to see if I could somehow manage to talk him into confessing despite the fact that he is in confinement with no way to kill."

"Oh," she said. "Thinking like you would think in a different situation. That makes a little more sense. But in all honesty," she said, looking over at him, "I think you just like confining random people." She laughed at the look she was getting from him now. "Well, that's what it'll seem like to those two, you know. And there may be some questions raised when you shackle yourself to Light."

He gave an obviously annoyed sigh and continued watching the monitors.

"All I'm _saying_ is that if you handcuff yourself to 'The God of the New World,' then people are going to think that you're supposed to be 'The God_dess_ of the New World,' you know?"

Another annoyed sigh in response to this.

"Alright," she said, "but don't say I didn't warn you when he decides to try and – _stop_ with the incessant eye rolling, that's annoying!"

"And you don't think _that_ isn't?" he asked irately.

"Are you _irritated_?" She sounded amused.

"Yes…"

"Awwww…" She tilted her head over onto his shoulder and looked up at him. "I'm sorry."

He glared back down at her in that _you're-invading-my-bubble_ sort of way. She glared back and moved over.

"Well _fine_…" she said, crossing her arms and staring intently at the wall in her other direction.

She wasn't being serious, but it seemed like it would be fun to make him believe she was to see what he would do. Her peripheral vision worked well enough so she could clearly see his reaction out of the corner of her eye. He looked over curiously, one of those curious looks that a person gets on their face when they're silently debating whether or not to poke something that's stopped moving to make sure it's still alive, the sort of look where the person's head is tilted to the side like a puppy that's just heard a new noise. She managed to refrain from giggling. It was, of course, very detective-like to assess the situation before attempting to take any sort of action whatsoever. However, this curious look was just too cute. Again, just to see his reaction, she sniffled. He looked even more confused, almost a little scared, and very concerned.

"A-are you okay…?" he managed to say. She sniffled again. "I'm sorry."

She sighed and moved back over. "It's _okay…_" she said. "Besides, I was just testing you."

"Wh… why?"

"For the fun of it."

"… What were you testing exactly?"

"Nothing important. Look, it's Kira!" she said suddenly, pointing at the computer screens. He jerked his head back to the monitors, and then glared at her. She laughed. "That never gets old."

"How many times are you going to do that?"

"Until I find something funnier."

"Why are you trying to get on my nerves?"

"If _you'd_ just stop being so darn cute when you're irritated, then _you_ wouldn't have to worry about it."

He tilted his head to the side a little again as he chewed on his thumbnail. _Why_ did she keep making comments like _that_? She hadn't started doing that until after she had returned from her two week absence, after they had started talking again. It was just plain weird that she was now. He didn't particularly _mind_, it was just strange. She obviously found it very entertaining…. How was it a test? Was she just doing these things to see his reaction and taking mental notes to figure something else out? Why would she want to do _that_?

The only way to get her to stop would be to beat her at her own game. The problem was, he wasn't sure what game she was playing. It was still worth trying, if it would keep him out of the nearly constant state of confusion he had been in lately. He couldn't help but wonder if that's how that idiot Matsuda felt. If it was, L wasn't sure how he could stand it.

"Really?"

"Yes," Katherine said slowly. "There would be no point in lying."

"Oh. Well, then, thank you."

That one caught her off guard. "Thank you?" That didn't sound like L. That didn't sound like L at _all_. This wasn't good. He had just made her fun backfire _horribly_. Now she was the confused one, and behind his regular stoic look as he stared at the monitors in front of him, she was sure she saw a glint of smugness. _That_ was completely unacceptable, this was _her_ expertise, _not_ his. It was obvious that he had the IQ and the capacity to learn almost anything in a matter of seconds, but this seemed like something that his mind was completely ignorant to. This wasn't good at all. Then it hit her: the perfect counter.

"You're welcome," she said cheerfully.

She watched with perfectly concealed glee as that momentary glint of arrogance faded quickly from L's eyes. Now _that_ was amusing. He seemed to be fishing around his brain for something else that would catch her off guard. She was so confident that he wouldn't think of anything that she accidentally let her guard down. He spoke again without even blinking, without even a glance over, and absolute calmness.

"You're rather cute when you're confused."

_Oh_ no. Now she was _blushing_. That was very bad. However, this seemed to be working to her advantage. When L glanced over momentarily, the triumphant expression on his face quickly turned into an anxious, nervous one. That made things a little easier. That meant that she might have still had a chance to win.

"Th-thank you…" Katherine said quietly, also acting nervous.

That hadn't worked right. It had caught her off guard, but it had caught her so off guard that her reaction caught him off guard. That wasn't what he had intended…. There was still a change. A simple 'your welcome' wouldn't do, she had already done that. He couldn't go over the top. Maybe…

"You're _quite_ welcome."

She was done. That was it. She wasn't even going to _begin_ to wonder what he had meant by "_quite_." Quickly, she stood up. She wouldn't openly admit defeat, but she wouldn't stay and get defeated any worse.

"Starting to get a bit tired, good night," she said quickly.

L watched as she moved quickly over to the other side of the room and sat sideways in her usual chair. He tilted his head sideways on his knees and watched the monitors in front of him without really paying any attention to them. There were more important matters at hand. He couldn't help but grin at the fact that he had _finally_ gotten a point against her. Of course, there was still the problem that he still wasn't entirely sure what game it was he had gotten that point against her in. It was some sort of strange battle of compliments, so it seemed. She was still winning by a long shot, but he was sure he could catch up after a while. He didn't like loosing at all, so just one point against her was a single battle won for him. That was something, at least.

Of course, it wasn't entirely a game. The fact that she actually _was_ attractive had made winning quite a bit easier. It was definitely a lot easier than he'd expected it to be, at least. It hadn't even taken five minutes after his first move for her to forfeit out of fear of loosing even worse.

* * *

Day fifteen of Light's confinement was an interesting one for the investigation team. The hotel room was beginning to run out of random assortments of cake and candy and other sweets, as well as coffee. L had attempted to send Matsuda and Aizawa out to the store, but Aizawa claimed that he had refused to let Matsuda within ten feet of his car after what he referred to as the "Cheeseburger Incident," to which Matsuda responded by laughing his head off. Five minutes later, after hearing the story, Katherine agreed to let him within ten feet of her car under the condition that he wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything within twenty feet of it, and they headed off to the store.

Naturally, when they returned, they were discussing something completely nonsensical that neither L nor Aizawa fully understood. Katherine dropped her bags next to L, who immediately checked to make sure the cake was the right kind.

"No, no no no," Katherine said as she was sitting on the couch. "Gibson bought out _Epiphone_, you have it completely wrong, Fender isn't even a part of the equation. If _you_ want to be the guitarist, you have to know these things."

"You don't know anything about drums."

"I know, but the guitarist _has_ to know about guitars."

"Why?"

"Just… because. It's required."

"Then you be the guitarist."

"I play drums. You can ask anyone in any of the music shops Misa and I used to go in durring our senior year of high school. I don't know jack about them, but I play them."

"Why'd you learn about guitars, then??"

"Because they're neato. What other reason could there possibly be?"

"Are you _still_ on about that weird band thing?" Aizawa asked them from by L's monitoring station.

"It's not _weird_," Katherine said. "You're lucky. You're the bass guitarist, you don't have to know about bass guitars, either, just how to play them."

"_I'm_ not _in_ the band."

"Well, screw you! Oh, almost forgot something… which is bad because this bit's actually really important," she said. "Where'd you put that newspaper?" she asked Matsuda.

"Hmm… bag…" He looked in the bags on the coffee table and pulled a newspaper out of one of them. He took it over to Aizawa and L. "Two weeks of murderers died yesterday of heart attacks."

"We already knew," L said.

"Does Chief know yet?"

"Not yet, no – what are you–?"

Matsuda was already speaking into the microphone connected to Yagami's room.

"Chief, Kira's murderers have started again despite the fact that Light-kun is still in confinement!"

"R… really, Matsuda?" Yagami said, standing from his chair. "Then that means suspicion of my son is… no, Ryuzaki won't sat it's white."

"Well then," L said slowly, "Twenty-five percent."

"Did you hear that?? Twenty-five percent!"

"Yes," Yagami replied. "That's good, considering it was ninety-nine…."

"Now for Light-kun, too –"

L put his hand over the button on the microphone that led to Light's room. "Don't let Light-kun know yet," he said.

"Wh… what…"

L spoke into the microphone. "Light-kun."

Light was sitting on the floor with his back against the bench. His head was bent low, and he looked simply miserable. Even L might have felt bad for him if he weren't a cold-blooded murderer.

"What is it?" he asked gloomily.

"It has been two weeks since Kira last punished a criminal. Will you admit you're Kira already?"

"Don't be ridiculous…" he said. He managed to pick his head up and look up. "You are wrong, Ryuzaki. I understand how you can come to the conclusion that I'm Kira, but I swear I'm not! This is a set-up, I know it is. Hurry up and let me out so I can help find Kira!"

L switched over to the microphone leading to Misa's confinement. "Amane, you truly don't know who Kira is, do you?"

"Eh…?" she said, sounding as confused as ever. "That again? I want to. He punished the man who killed my parents. He's my hero."

* * *

"You definitely did a good job making Aizawa and Matsuda like you even less earlier today."

L glanced over as Katherine was sitting next to him at around eleven the same night. He smelled coffee, and glanced down after a few seconds to see that a cup was being held under his nose. He took it with a quick thanks, and continued staring at the computer screens. He had expected that Aizawa and Matsuda would lose faith in his investigative abilities because of his actions. However, had he done anything different, they would have suspected that he knew something that they didn't, and started questioning him about it. It was better this way.

"The next step of Kira's plan is finished," she said. "It'll only be a matter of time before Light's on the investigation team."

"I'm aware. I'm trying to think of a plan that would make it seem as though I still suspected him even if I didn't know about Death Notes and Shinigami. Obviously, L wouldn't let the lead Kira suspect onto the investigation team unless he was one hundred percent sure that the suspect wasn't Kira."

"Anything ideas so far?"

"Yes. I have to devise a plan that would put Kira in a situation of, say, 'kill or be killed.' I'm not entirely sure how to go about the plan, but I would definitely have to use another person for it."

"I'll–"

"Someone with a name, to be more specific."

"Ah. Right. No one on the investigation team is in any danger of being killed, but you know that. Since you already know Light is Kira and you're just doing this to keep the team from knowing that you know, then that doesn't really matter."

"Correct. I just need to find someone who is willing to put their life at risk, despite the fact that their life isn't really at risk, which no one else knows. There isn't even a fraction of a chance that Light-kun won't be on the investigation team after he has been proven innocent now, however."

Considering L was in one of his overly contemplative moods, Katherine decided it probably wasn't the best time in the world to spout out any unnecessary "Kira's gay" jokes, despite the fact that she had spent much of the day coming up with an abundance of brand new ones. This was slightly disappointing, but she didn't want to make him overly angry. And even more, despite the regular Kira-angst vibes that generally accompanied this particular mood of his, there was something else. It was something that she wasn't about to poke fun at, seeing as she wasn't entirely sure what it was. She glanced at one of the computers in front of him, and down at the taskbar at the bottom.

"Research…?"

An open file at the bottom of the screen on the taskbar was titled as such. So _that_ was the other half of the atmosphere: apprehension. For one reason or another, he hadn't wanted her to see that.

"What sort of research?" she asked curiously.

"Has to do with… things…" he said evasively.

She laughed. "Obviously. What sorts of things?"

"Nothing important."

"If you say so," she said sarcastically. She wasn't going to argue. "Anyway. Staying up for the past five days is threatening to break the last few strings of sanity I have left. I'm going to get some sleep tonight. Good night"

She turned enough to give L the same hug that she normally did before going over to her favorite chair in the room. He didn't jump nervously as he usually did. He must have been growing used to this; he _actually_ hugged her back. And said good night. This surprised her. It was strange. It wasn't a bad strange, though. She wasn't sure what way it was strange in, it was just abnormal of him. It was the sort of strange that almost seemed to make her stomach weightless. But then that would mean…. Her eyes widened.

Katherine headed quickly over to her chair after they both let go. She sat in her regular sideways manner. Before she knew what she was doing, she was chewing her fingernail as she thought, in a very L-like way. She quickly took her hand away from her mouth when she realized this. This was just _weird_. She didn't think of him like that, they were just friends. _Just_ friends. She _did_ think he was cute in a puppy-like sort of way, but she only ever said so to confuse him. That didn't mean anything, right? Ugh. Sleep was overrated. She was going to have to spend the rest of the night up wondering what in the world was going on.

L took a mental note of her confusion, and also how it was another victory on his side of that strange game she had started. He then looked at his research file, taking a sip of coffee. According to the many web pages he had read on "friendship" and other related subjects, and then copied onto that document, there was a ninety-nine percent chance that he had a "crush" on her. Her reaction proved undoubtedly that although she had previously believed them to be _only_ friends, she was now unsure of that belief. There was a seventy-five percent chance that, within the next twenty-four hours, she would come to the conclusion that she might possibly have looked at him as more than a friend.

From this, he could quite easily conclude that friends were more confusing than any case he had ever worked on in the past.

* * *

_Total of another 13 comments on the last chapter, and it's up over 7,000 views now._

_To my readers: Thank you for being so awesome._

_Also, I will probably update **Justice Never Dies** next, as I'm half-way through with its next chapter._

_And today's random word is still cactus. Heck, that might be the random word of the week. Who knows._


	24. Chapter 23: Glare

_Fourteen reviews on one chapter…? -faints-_

_-wakes up five minutes later- Oh. Now it's fifteen. Yay!_

_I'm in a state of utter disbelief at all of the activity my stories got last night (er… actually super early this morning, but oh well!) after I went to sleep. Hey, even caffeine-addict insomniacs need to sleep sometimes!_

_Disclaimer: See previous chapter._

* * *

"But I still don't _understand_ how a person can manage to break a car's windshield with a freaking cheeseburger…"

Despite the fact that she had heard the story a day ago, Katherine was still in awe over the fabled "Cheeseburger Incident." She also planned never to eat fast food again in her own car.

"It wasn't the actual cheeseburger that did it," Matsuda said. "The bread was stale."

"Okay, okay, okay," she said. "Let me get this straight. The bread on the cheeseburger somehow magically flew out of your hands and off of the burger, and _then_ into the windshield in the patrol car, thus breaking it and causing Aizawa-san to attempt to kill you?"

"He was the one who slammed on the brakes!"

"It was _that_ stale?"

"Yeah. And since I was still just in training, he had to pay for the fix."

"Ouch."

"Would've been a bigger ouch if he had found me when I hid."

Katherine shook her head again. "A fucking _cheeseburger_…."

"Would you two stop talking about fast food? You actually _have_ work to do, you know."

She glared at Aizawa. Still grumbling about cheeseburgers, Katherine picked up a stack of papers from the table and pretended to read them. Paperwork wasn't really her strongpoint, especially not when she was distracted by cheeseburgers, hunger, lack of caffeine in her bloodstream, and a certain detective glancing back at her ever few minutes. Her main problem was definitely the latter of the list, especially after the previous night with her stupid _feelings_ and her equally impaired _mind_ keeping her from sleeping. He had probably done it on purpose to confuse her. And indeed, it _had_ confused her. It had confused the hell out of her. There was one thing about this attempt of his to confuse her that was getting on her last nerve more than anything.

That was the fact that it was actually _working_. She had no idea how she felt anymore. Her tendency to over think things had taken over the night before, and – he was freaking looking at her a_gain_. She almost wanted to smack that evilly innocent look off of his face… but that would have been like hitting a puppy. Hitting puppies was just mean; she didn't want to hit a puppy, even if it was an evil, mocking puppy that was only pretending to be cute to infuriate her further.

L suppressed a grin as he looked back at the computer screens in front of him. His plan was working perfectly, judging by exasperatedly confused and frustrated she appeared to be. She would probably want to talk about things later on that day, even if she didn't figure out why she was so infuriatingly confounded. He glanced back at her again, but was met with a glare that was icy enough to freeze hell over. So it was only a quick, half-a-nanosecond glance. He wondered vaguely if all women were so intimidating when they were incensed over something.

_Stupid freaking… argh!_ Katherine felt her fingers twitch around the stack of papers she was still pretending to sort through as she fought an urge to pull out her own hair in frustration. _If he'd stop with this looking at me thing, then I might be able to think logically..._. _I usually have no problem with logical thinking but Mr. Super-sleuth over there has purposely cut my last few strings of sanity for which I would really like to freaking __**smack**__ him. Stupid freaking puppy. Stop looking at me, dammit! At least I have my evil glare on my side. Though it may have just scared the bajeezus out of Mattie. Whoops._

Katherine glanced over to her side to see that Matsuda had just cautiously moved over to the very end of the couch. He definitely looked scared out of his mind, and it was absolutely pitiful. She laughed a little, then went back to her paperwork.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Why's Ryuzaki keep looking at you?"

She flipped her hair from behind her ear to hide her blushing. That idiot just _had_ to be _so_ obvious about randomly looking at her at inappropriate moment. She glared at L again, though he currently had his eyes on the computers in front of him.

"Because he's a weirdo. But I think that's already been established in the past. He probably thinks that I'm Kira or something, now that there's a ninety-nine percent chance that Light-kun isn't."

"The homicidal glare probably isn't helping your case much, you know."

"I'll stop glaring at him when he stops looking at me."

She again glared at L, who looked back at his grin, attempting to pass a laugh off as a cough. The glare was scary enough, but it seemed less threatening when she was blushing.

* * *

The hours passed by slowly that day. There were more Kira murders in the newspapers, of course, but that wasn't much a surprise, considering the miraculous return Kira had made the day earlier after a two week absence. Many people were now saying that Kira had only been taking a break, and that this was the same Kira as before and all the regular yada-yada blah bull-crap of people who couldn't piece together the fact that the murders were patterned differently than before. Those types of people – particularly the ones that actually _supported_ Kira – were the same types of people that made Katherine want to send a meteor crashing into the Earth at times.

If Katherine or L had pointed this out to Matsuda and Aizawa this quickly, then they both would have immediately suspected something was up. L had to play out his paranoid-of-Light act, and Katherine just had to act like a possible Kira suspect who was pissed of about the fact that she was a possible Kira suspect. L had finally managed to pick up on some acting. Compared to the rather amusing and yet unskilled act he had played as a diehard Misa-Misa fan back at the college in order to get her arrested, he had improved tenfold. Of course, being paranoid of Light was an easier act to play, considering how Light actually _was_ Kira.

L wasn't at all surprised when someone sat down next to him at around midnight. He didn't have to look over to confirm who it was, especially not when he heard the sound of the top of a soda can popping. There was, however, no speech. None whatsoever. This was a little unnerving and made him almost afraid to look over, for fear of having his eyes gouged out by a very irritated female. However, curiosity conquered fear, and he found himself looking over after only a second of wondering whether or not he should.

The first thing he noticed was that there was a muscle twitching above the left corner of Katherine's lip. This was a bad sign, and it was made even more so accompanied by that same evil glare as earlier.

Keeping her glare going was hard while being giving that curious look that made her want to pat him on the head like a puppy. Especially the slight head tilt and the fingernail biting. She halfway wondered if L was doing it on purpose, but it was doubtful that he was. She couldn't keep it up. She sighed and shook her head.

"You're a butt," she said exasperatedly. "You know that?"

Now he looked confused, and almost a little offended.

"No…" he said slowly, "I wasn't fully aware."

"And you look like a freaking puppy when you're confused."

He blinked a few times, wondering if this was an insult. It couldn't possibly be a compliment.

"No," she said, "more like a cross between a puppy and a panda cub. Yeah."

"… What?"

"You heard me," she said. "You're a panda puppy."

She was indeed good at masking her true tone. Katherine's completely toneless voice didn't imply whether this was meant to be a joke or an insult. L wasn't sure whether to be offended or amused. He decided to stick with puzzled after a moment of pondering. She wasn't making any sense, after all.

"A… 'panda puppy?' That would be a biologically impossible crossbreed. Dogs are–"

"I know," she said impatiently, "no need to go all scientific. But I'm telling you. You're a panda puppy."

"How am I something that couldn't possibly exist?"

"I don't know. It's not my fault you're a panda puppy, I'm just pointing out facts here."

This wasn't going at all how he had planned. She had failed to make any mention of the previous night or the fact that his looking at her was irritating. Katherine was smart enough to figure out his plan, however – that was obvious enough. He had hoped that things would go according to plan, but there had still been a twenty-five percent chance that they wouldn't. It seemed that his luck was against him if she was going to keep on with this "panda puppy" nonsense. Although, it was hard not to imagine what a cross between a panda and a dog would look like at her constant mention of it… probably quite strange….

"You look confused," she said.

"Really?"

"Now you sound irritated," she said, nodding. He sighed and looked back at the computer screens. "And exasperation sets in."

"Why are you narrating me?"

"Is it annoying you?"

"Slightly."

"That's why."

"Oh," L said. Two could _easily_ play at that game. "I see."

This seemed to infuriate her entirely. He remembered that Katherine had previously mentioned that the phrase "I see" had the same meaning as "fuck off and leave me alone" in her vocabulary, and it annoyed her to no end. She looked absolutely outraged at his use of the expression, which was rather entertaining.

"Y– y-you– you – you son of a bitch!"

Okay, maybe not so entertaining. More scary. Yes, scary was the word.

"_You_ have no right to annoy _me_, _**you've**_ been annoying _me_ all freaking _day!_"

Her last word was accompanied by a rather painful poke in the arm. However, she had brought up the subject she had been skirting around since they had begun talking. Despite the fact that there was now a sharp pain on his upper arm, things were now turning to his advantage. She realized this suddenly and swore under her breath, then swore under her breath again when she realized he had heard her the first time.

"Alright, _fine_," she snapped, "yes, your constant staring annoyed me. Happy? I'm guessing that's what your intention was, as some sort of stupid revenge. You could have just _said_ I was bothering you, that's what friends do. _Talk_. _Com-mune-eh-cate_."

"There is no need to enunciate your words so assertively," he said with a sigh. "That wasn't my intention, you do not particularly 'bother' me, as you put it, and it was not revenge for anything."

"Then _why_," she asked in irritation, "did you use the forbidden phrase?"

"You mean 'I see?'" She made a noise of absolute disgust. "I do not appreciate being narrated."

"You could've just said so!"

"I did."

"No you– oh, you did… sorry. Wait!" she added. "I shouldn't be apologizing, you should be _explaining_!!"

"I planned to," he said. "I am honestly surprised that you did not deduce my plan from the beginning, I guessed that you were eluding what was on your mind for the sake of avoiding speaking of it."

"Well apparently your little _plan_ was more cunning than you thought," she said irately, "because I don't have a bloody clue what's going on."

She saw a look on his face that indicated he was concealing a rather smug grin. She sighed in annoyance at this, but didn't say anything. Despite the fact that she was sure that it was simple and would definitely make her feel stupid for not figuring out, Katherine really wanted to know what this "plan" of his had been. It definitely involved the hugging that had set her mind to kill mode in the first place. She glanced at the computer screens to see that he was pulling up something on the Misa monitoring one. It was titled… "Research." He minimized it before she could read it. She gave an irritated growl.

"This document," he said, indicating the button at the bottom of the screen on the taskbar, "is, obviously, research of mine. I grew bored with keeping a constant eye Yagami-kun when it was obvious he wasn't going to do anything besides complain when I would interrogate him, so I started looking up things."

She gave an unexpected laugh. L looked at her oddly. "Porn?" She laughed when the look of question turned into an all-out glare. "Sorry," she said, still laughing. "Couldn't help it."

"Anyway," he continued, "as I was basically always too busy working on cases in the past to ever gain any 'friends,' and the concept still did puzzle me somewhat, I decided to research different meanings of the word, as well as a few other related subjects."

"So this was some weird test of how a friend would react to constant annoyance by another friend?"

"No," he said. "Let me finish, please. Besides friendship, I looked up related subjects, as I said."

"Like friendship is related to love, and also… enemy-ship? Good enough word. And similar things. And the boundaries between and whatnot?"

"Right."

"You were bored." She shrugged. "I also research strange things when I get bored. I can practically recite the history of piracy at this point."

"You aren't catching on at all," he said with a sigh. "I researched friendship and realized that I may consider…"

He trailed off. The words seemed to have escaped L's mind entirely. Just the thought of saying it made him feel nervous. He hadn't expected it to be this nerve-racking, just to say a few simple words. Yes, he may consider her as more than a friend, but what if the reason she couldn't catch on what he was talking about was because she _only_ looked at him as a friend and nothing else at all.

"Consider…?" she prompted him.

"I may consider you as… possibly… a little more than a friend."

… _Oh. That explains it._ She watched his eyes widen nervously as he heard his own words. _And there're the scared puppy eyes…_._ I should probably say something so he doesn't think I hate him or anything… but… I don't know what… but dammit… he could just be trying to trick me…._

"R… really?" was all she could manage in her now terribly confused state. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "How much more?"

L's eye twitched slightly in response to the question, and he immediately became refocused on the computers in front of him, as well as very intent in chewing off the fingernail on his index finger. Katherine almost allowed herself an _aww_ at the absolute cuteness of his confusion. However, he wasn't going to get away with not answering her question. Now she was curious. When she was curious, she _got_ answers.

"Ryuzaki," she said, poking his shoulder. This action made him jump. "Don't get paranoid," she said quietly. "It was just a question." He gulped noiselessly, but still didn't answer. She sighed. "I'm going to keep poking you if you don't answer me." He didn't answer. She poked him again.

"W… with the research that I did, I would say there's probably about a ninety-nine percent chance that I might possibly have a… a small crush on you."

"So you devised a plan to see whether or not I felt the same way?" He nodded without glancing over. "Well, it was a well devised plan, I'll grant you that. But there was an easier way to do things that you completely overlooked." He looked over curiously now. "It's really a simple thing. And it's called _com-mune-eh-cay-shun_."

"But–"

"You didn't want to say anything if you didn't know how I felt?"

"Y… yes."

"But you already did," she pointed out.

He seemed to ponder this for a moment, his eyes swiveling upward to stare at the ceiling as he did so. After a moment of thought, they came back down and locked with hers expectantly.

"Then… do you?"

She imitated L's eye swiveling purposely for a moment, as though thinking. She already knew her answer, but imitating him was amusing.

"Well," she said, "I believe there is a one hundred percent that I may have a 'small' crush on you, a ninety percent chance that I may have a slightly larger crush on you that I might think, and a one hundred percent chance that I will be imitating you a lot more in the future because it is quite entertaining to me. And just for clarification," she added, looking back at him, "there is a five hundred and twenty-six percent chance that you are, indeed, a panda puppy."

"Well…" he said slowly, apparently ignoring the latter of her statements, "if you seem so sure of this, then why did you panic last night?"

"I had a whole twenty-four hours to think about it. Granted, someone was _staring_ at me for half the time, but I managed to figure it out."

"Sorry…" he said sheepishly, looking back at the computer screens.

"Aww, I'm not _mad_," she said, moving over closer to him. She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head sideways on his shoulder, which seemed to startle him for a moment. "I'm just glad my panda puppy wasn't playing a trick on me."

"You thought I was playing a trick on you…?"

She picked her head up and looked at him in a puzzled manner. "I told you, I thought it was some kind of mean revenge for me confusing you all the time…."

"That would have been rather unkind."

"I just _said_ that." She smiled for a moment. "Aren't you supposed to be smart?"

She received another wide-eyed look of confusion, instead of his signature irritated glare that she had been expecting and somewhat looking forward to. It was just as cute as the confused look.

"… Yes?"

Smiling again, Katherine let her arms move back to her own personal bubble of space. She moved next to L so she was facing the same direction he was facing and rested her head on his shoulder again. He looked down at her for a moment to see she had closed her eyes. Then a completely incoherent thought crossed his mind.

"What exactly _is_ a panda puppy?"

She looked up at him as she opened her eyes, amusement shining in them. "You should know better than anyone, being the only one in existence and all. It's a good thing I claimed you before Kira-face could go claiming you when you chain yourself to him."

And _there_ was the glare she'd been looking for. She grinned evilly in response before shutting her eyes again, in a more comfortable than tired manner.

* * *

_EEP! Now I'm up to 16 reviews on the previous chapter!! That's an uberly major record._

_Mucho thanks to EVERYONE who has left the 125 comments on this story, to the 41 favoriters and to the 50 alerters. I love you all!_

_**I now declare **__**halfenburgen**__** to be the word of the day.**__ Thanks to Sabext (whose name I spelled CORRECTLY this time) for the awesomely cool word. Cactus will continue its roll as "word of the week" after a day-long vacation to Arizona._

_To Miorochi in regards of suggestion – I did consider that, actually, but I came up with a different-yet-similar idea that will happen at around the time of the Yotsuba-finding. Involves an acquaintance, in a manner of speaking, yes, but not in Yotsuba, but it is tied in with the whole Yotsuba deal. _

_Don't wanna spoil it, so won't say anything else :)_

_Again, MANY thanks to everyone, especially the people who comment regularly on my other stories, too!!_


	25. Chapter 24: Absentminded

_Disclaimer: I don't own any Death Note stuffs or things, nor do I own an actual panda puppy -holyshit did ya know they're actually real? Google that shit, people!!- but I do own this story, so no stealzies please. I also do not own the websites Google or Urban Dictionary._

* * *

_I'm going to reply to some random stuffs in teh comments before going straight into the story, which I'll probably be doing for every chapter since I get so many awesome comments from so many awesome people._

_To __**EVERYONE**__: Wow. I actually have fans. I'm in absolute awe. hugs!!_

_Madeline Cullen: ZOMG!! AWARDZ!! jumps up and down excitedly Ooh. And a cookie :D Thank yooo!!_

_Sparanda: But I just figured out how to spell your last username properly_….

_Volital: -ponders- Hmmmmpossibly :P. And yes, he definitely should have stayed asleep O.o Poor Mattie. He's going to be scarred for life XD_

_MoonCrisis: That shall come soon… -evilKiralaugh- I actually looked "panda puppy" online after reading your comment being the total dork that I am, haha. Now it must be included in the story. -credits to MoonCrisis-_

_To everyone who commented: OMG!! A __**REAL**__ panda puppy! ( i34 dot tinypic dot com/de4nqf dot jpg . Replace the 'dot's with '.'s for it to work). Holy crapshki!! I'm effing amazed. I so want to buy a panda puppy and name it L now._

* * *

L bit his fingernail as he stared at the computer screen, debating with himself over whether or not the idea was even remotely rational, sensible, or even _sane_. But it had been bothering him for the past six hours. It was six thirty in the morning, and he was the only person awake in the investigation headquarters. It seemed so farfetched, so utterly improbable, but his curiosity wasn't going to let him live it down without figuring it out. It would simply torture him to death. The only way to know was to actually find out. Thanking some higher power in the internet dimension for Google, he typed in the web address on his browser and typed in the two words that had been attempting to gnaw a hole in his skull for the past six _freaking_ hours. The results were absolutely astounding.

'_Results one of ten of about two million six hundred seventy thousand for… panda puppy…?' It's actually __**real**__??_ he thought to himself, gaping at the computer screen. He scrolled down and clicked on a link to 'Urban Dictionary' and read silently to himself. '_A Taiwanese puppy whose hair has been dyed to match the markings on a panda, found on various websites and commonly used as an image icon.' That's disturbingly coincidental._

"Watcha doin'?"

L minimized the screen as Katherine sat down right next to him. "Nothing."

"Uh-_huh_. What're you looking up on 'Urban Dictionary,' then?" she asked, pointing at the taskbar, amusement dancing in her tone. She moved his arm a little to shift closer to him and rest her cheek against his shoulder. He looked down at her.

"It's a… pop-up window."

"Then why're you turning _red_?" she teased, poking one of his cheeks. "Was my panda puppy trying to figure out what a panda puppy is, by some chance?"

"… No…"

"You'll be hard-pressed to figure it out," she said with a soft laugh, nuzzling his shoulder. "I just made it up on the spot."

"But there's over two million results for it on Google."

"Oh?" She giggled when his face flushed again as he realized his admission. "So you _were_ looking it up?"

"Yes…" he said with a sigh. "I figured no harm could come in looking it up if you weren't going to explain its meaning. I still don't entirely understand, however. Why am I a Taiwanese puppy dyed to look like a panda?"

"It's called a _metaphor_, silly," she said. "It's like saying 'you're as cute _as_ a panda and a puppy put together,' but without all the extra words. Do you understand now?"

"I figured it was a metaphor," he said. "I doubted you were literally implying that I was the offspring of a dog and a bear. I just didn't entirely understand the meaning of the metaphor itself."

"Awwww…" she said, looking up at him with wide eyes, "did you think it was implied as a derogatory statement meant to offend you?" She smiled. "I can use immense terminology, too, you know."

"I assumed you were capable of doing so, but I wasn't aware you were a living thesaurus."

"Whether I am a thesaurus or not isn't the matter at hands. The issue here is that _you_ didn't reply to my query." Her grinned widened evilly as she made his cheeks redden for the third time that morning. "You're so endearing when you're embarrassed."

Sensing a chance to revive his loosing side of the battle (although he wasn't entirely sure when it had become a competition again), he immediately retaliated. He was sure it would be enough to at least tie him with her again.

"Well, then _you're_ absolutely adorable."

It did make her flush, but that evil grin barely faltered. Katherine's retaliation worked better than his tenfold, even though she didn't have to speak a word. As he hadn't been looking at her, L also hadn't expected it in the least, doubling his shock. Only a couple seconds after his last sentence, he felt a pair of soft lips touch his cheek. The small, chaste touch quickened his pulse as blood rushed to his face yet again. He thought of what his next retaliation could be, but all ideas led to the same solution. Without reading in much thought to that solution, he decided to use it.

As her lips began to leave his cheek, L turned his head and captured her lips with his own. Her breath hitched in her initial shock from this sudden move. After a moment, his action and his thoughts connected. He quickly pulled away, his eyes widening as he realized in an instant just how horribly his absentminded plan had backfired on him. He started to apologize for this thoughtless action, but he only got out the word "I." He stopped when he felt the fingers of one of Katherine's hands entwine themselves within his hair. He barely comprehended the fact that they were getting closer, unbelievably closer, not until their lips were together again.

This time the shock was all his, but he didn't pull his lips away from Katherine's. This may have been due to the fact that it barely lasted a moment, as her lips had only brushed softly against L's, leaving their foreheads together as their lips parted and remained only centimeters away. The closeness was near unbearable as he breathed in her warm breath. Granted, this meant he was breathing in a combination of Carbon Dioxide and water vapors, but the hell if he cared. He was completely unaware of why a thought like that had just crossed his mind at such a time as this. That was odd.

L managed to shake these oddly _logical_ thoughts out of his mind for the moment to gaze into her large turquoise orbs. Powerless to resist this new, unfamiliar temptation that he had never before been subjected to, he pressed his lips to hers, capturing her breath along with them.

Katherine's breath had hitched in her alarm at the sudden movement, but she managed to find it again. He didn't seem very experienced in this…. This was normal, considering how L _had_ basically cut himself off from society for most of his life. However, it seemed that his nervousness was preventing him from moving. She smiled against his lips before slowly before moving her lips slowly against his. It was true that she had only ever kissed someone once before, she wasn't much more practiced than he was.

Katherine glanced over at the computer screen, and was lucky she did. It was six fifty-eight. That meant trouble. She pulled her lips away from L's slowly after a barely ten second long kiss.

"Time…" she said, her increased pulse making her nearly breathless as she stared into his wide eyes. "M-Matsuda's cell phone alarm goes off at seven, remember?"

L reached his hand up and caressed her cheek, sending heavenly shivers down her spine. His eyes darted to the computer screen for a moment to look at the time in the very corner. The glazed look of relaxation in them disappeared to be replaced with something else, something Katherine was sure was disappointment. Then there was another emotion entirely, one that indicated something like the click of a light bulb turning itself on. The look was one of realization, but not the same nervous realization as a moment ago. He was formulating a plan. As asking would make things boring, she decided not to, and even to pretend that she hadn't noticed that momentary glint in his eyes.

They pulled away from each other in impeccable timing. Matsuda's cell phone went off, and this was immediately followed by an irritated noise and the sound of a hand flopping carelessly over onto a table to pick up the source of the noise and shut it off. L, quickly remembering it was there, closed out of the internet page he had up. Katherine suppressed a laugh at this. Then there was drunkenly tired stumbling to be heard a moment later.

"Is Aizawa-san awake?" L asked, looking back at Matsuda.

"Eh?" He looked over. "Yes."

"Then all three of you listen," he said in his regular stoic tones. "As there is practically no work to be done as of right now except for keeping an eye on the monitors, which I can easily do by myself, you may all have the day off."

_Oh_, Katherine thought, her lips almost twitching into a smirk at the pure genius of the idea. _That's the plan. Simple, yet effective._

"Are you serious?" Matsuda said, shaking off his drowsiness. "We can actually _leave_?"

"Yes," he said. "I am."

"About _time_…" Aizawa said, standing up. "When?"

"Whenever you wish. Be back here tomorrow between ten o' clock and noon, however."

After agreeing to comply to this order and a few hurried goodbyes, Matsuda was out the door like a bullet, and Aizawa wasn't far behind. Katherine laughed.

"That was pure brilliance," she said, looking at the door. "They probably won't even come back if they forgot something."

"Probably not…" he agreed absently.

Not wanting to waste a moment of time, he reached his arm around her back and pulled her closer. He curved the fingers of his other hand under her chin with his thumb lightly caressing her cheek, and he tilted her head upwards both to look into her eyes and to press his lips to hers. Her hand managed to find its way back into his hair as she felt him initiate the mood of the kiss this time. She kissed back in the same slow rhythm. His hand moved over to her cheek, then into her hair for a moment, and then down to her neck. His nervousness and hesitation to make any action was utterly adorable.

Katherine slowly pulled her lips away from his and rested her forehead against his, looking into his impossibly wide eyes. She couldn't help but smile at the look of horror on his face from the sudden parting of their lips.

"What–?" L started worriedly.

"Try not to be so nervous," she said softly, stroking her hand through his hair.

His eyelids fell a little at the sound of her quiet, soothing voice. "Sorry…"

"You don't have to apologize," she said, now grinning in mild amusement. "Just relax."

"I'll try to." he said. "I just have my doubts that you haven't been kissed before, since you obviously know what you're doing and –"

She blushed lightly, her cheeks turning a light rosy color, but she was still smiling when she interrupted him. "My first – and only – kiss was on a twenty dollar bet that I wouldn't do it, _while_ I was half-blitzed. I barely even remember it." Her hand moved down to his cheek, and she brushed her lips against his for a moment. "Just _relax_. Don't be so tense."

"Y… yeah…"

"And don't get too focused," she said. "That _will_ make you nervous. And _especially_ don't start thinking too much. I know you have a tendency to do that… basically all the time."

"But–"

"Just don't," she said quietly. "Trust me."

He mumbled something that she didn't quite hear before he pressed his lips to hers again. As his lips began moving, her breath hitched; she quickly decided she wasn't going to bother asking him what he had said when she kissed back.

* * *

It was absolutely nerve-racking when Aizawa and Matsuda returned the next day (they both took care to show up at exactly noon, the latest they could). Katherine was careful to act like she had taken the day off as she complained at them for getting there so late when _she_ had showed up at ten o' clock. She kept her distance from L as much as she could, trying hard not to turn red on the occasion that he glanced back at the three of them doing paperwork. She knew it was going to be a _long_ day.

When L decided later on that it was best for the team to go over possible scenarios as to how Light could have been Kira or Misa could have been the second Kira, Katherine took to watching the monitors and conversing with (a.k.a. picking on) Light. That was a lot more entertaining than discussing something that would have just bored the pants off of her and forced her to go near L after the day before, which was going to be impossible for her to do without tackle-glomping him, which she _definitely_ wasn't going to do with the other two there. It might raise some rather inappropriate questions. Consequently, she decided, talking with Light would be better than nothing. And so she pressed down the red button leading to the speakers in his room.

"Oi," she said, deciding to speak in English for no particular reason. "Kira-face. 'Ow's it goin'?"

"_Wonderful_, of course…"

"Well, damn, lucky you," she said, ignoring his sarcasm. "I'd be in a right state after hanging out in a prison cell with me arms tied up for Jesus knows 'ow long."

"Do you have to speak in English?"

"No," she said. "But I am. Got a problem with it?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, but your Japanese sounds more propper than your native language, which is just… strange."

"Oi!" she said in false outrage. "Are you imply'n that _you_ can speak English better than _me_? I somehow doubt it. And if _your_ best friends were criminals, _you'd_ probably pick up on a lot of improper bloody terminology as well."

"I'm not implying that I can speak English any better than you, and I'm quite happy that my best friends _aren't_ criminals."

"Why's 'at?"

"Because… I don't like criminals…?"

"Oh?" she said. "That sounds like somethin' 'at _Kira_ might say, you know that, Kira-face?"

Light closed his eyes in agitation. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Nadda thing, Kira-face."

"Would you _stop_ calling me that? I'm _not_ Kira."

"Whatever you say, Kira-face," she said airily. "Speaking of English," she added thoughtfully, "have you ever tried spelling your last name backwards in English letters?"

He thought for a moment. The pensive look on his face quickly turned to one of shock, then annoyance. "Shut up!" he said agitatedly.

She laughed, taking her finger off of the button. Then she heard Matsuda's voice from behind her, "It spells… oh. I never thought about that…"

"Focus, Mattie," she said. "You're supposed to be discussing stuff. I'm monitoring. Now…" she mumbled to herself. "Onto the next victim…"

She pressed another button and spoke into the microphone. "Amane Misa."

"Eh…?" Misa said vaguely. "Stalker-san?"

"Yes. This is stalker-san."

"Are you going to ask me about that stupid Kira stuff again?!" she said, now sounding impatient. "I _told _you–"

"I am not."

"…Oh. Then what?"

Katherine paused, holding back laughter. "I am sad to inform you that your beloved 'boyfriend…'" She paused dramatically, allowing Misa a moment to think. "… is gay."

She lifted her finger off of the button and laughed as Misa burst into a fit of anger.

"You _liar!!_ That's a really mean joke to play on someone!!" she shrieked. "Stalker-san is a _meanie!!_"

"Did you _have_ to do that?" Aizawa said irately.

"No," Katherine said, still shaking in laughter, "but it was too awesome not to do. Chief's having a hard enough time holding onto his insanity, so I'm not going to bother him. Back to Light-kun."

She pressed the red button again, a scheme hatching in her mind. It was pretty random, but it would be interesting to see the results….

"Light-kun."

"What _now_?"

"Would you like an apple?"

He paused, taking in what he had just heard. She was sure she detected a flicker of remembrance in his expression before he answered.

"No…" he said slowly. "Why?"

"Just wondering."

Katherine watched his reaction closely. This was more an experiment for herself than anything, but the randomness of the question would make the team think that it was just her amusing herself. She wanted to know if there was any way to stimulate the memory of a person with Death-Note-loss inflicted amnesia. It seemed that the thought of apples had obviously crossed his mind with some aspects of familiarity, judging by the momentary flicker in his expression (a week in a psychology class at Toudai _had_ taught her a little about things, and the fact that she got bored and read the whole textbook once hadn't hurt her, either).

That was interesting, considering she was under the impression that forfeiting a Death Note caused the owner of that Death Note to forget everything that had happened while they had used it. That impression was obviously wrong. Light remembered everything that had happened while he was Kira… except that he was Kira, that there had been an apple eating Shinigami following him everywhere, and that he had owned a Death Note that he wrote criminals' names in durring his spare time. However, she imagined mentioning apples had caused a memory of how many apples he had bought in the past year compared to previous to flicker in his mind.

Of course, there was always just the chance that the flicker of memory she had seen in the teenager's eyes was just contemplation of what would happen depending on how he answered. Between herself and L, she had no doubt that he knew that any question, even something as simple as being offered a cup of tea, could be some kind of scheme to make him out as being Kira.

One fun thing to do when he got out of confinement would be to ask random questions at inappropriate moments to confuse him. Katherine was soon going to have two geniuses to confuse on a daily basis. Of course, there was the difference that confusing Light was just going to be to torture him, not like she confused L because of the puppy-like expression it left on his face. No… she despised Light right down to the very center of his being, not just because he was Kira, but because… something. She wasn't sure what it was, but something about him just made her want to punch him in the gut. Punching him, though, would make Misa kill her without means of a Death Note or any other weapons. She didn't feel like being decapitated by an angry model, so she would resist attacking Light.

For now.

* * *

_Hoisahgudhg.  
That's the new word of the day._

_It's pronounced 'kee-bored jibb-err-ish.'_

_Its definition is 'Holy FREAK I'm hyper!' And it is a nounjativerb. _

_This is due to the fact that I couldn't talk 'cactus' into coming back from Arizona. It read __**Justice Never Dies**__ and is now waiting to fall on a motorcycle there, and it refuses to come back until that happens. -sigh- It could be a while._

_Anyway, thanks again everyone!_

_And sorry for not updating for the past couple days -hides from attackers- I know I usually update every day, but I was busy with being drug around school shopping. Sorry!!_


	26. Chapter 25: Roommates

_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own Death Note or any of its characters._

_I'm sorry, I'm too lazy to do a comments replies section this time. But I do dearly thank everyone who commented._

_But on a completely random note, new song stuck in teh head. It's called "Tush." And it's by ZZ Top, because they're the only band awesome enough to play fuzzy guitars and still be awesome as shit. On another unrelated note: I finally learned the second solo in Iron Man on geetar. Not that it was overly hard, just that I was being lazy. But anyway, WOOTNESS! I know an entire Black Sabbath song now. YAY!!_

* * *

"Spider."

"What?"

"Spider!"

"_Where?!_" came a loud shriek in reply, making Aizawa cringe slightly, then mutter something about asprin.

At the sounds of laughter at her cat-like jump from the couch and onto the coffee table to escape the "spider," Katherine crossed her arms and glared. She had made the mistake of mentioning to the team that she had a clinically severe case of arachnophobia. Matsuda thought it was absolutely hilarious, and took to using the information for his own entertainment.

"I told you not to do that…" she whined over his laughter. "It's not _funny_…"

"She's right, it isn't," Aizawa said through gritted teeth.

"And you know it's true when Afro Samurai over here starts agreeing with me," she said, jerking her thumb in the direction of Aizawa as she sat cross legged on the coffee table.

"Would you _stop_ calling me that?"

"Nope."

After forcing Matsuda to promise on consequence of death or just a really painful hospital visit that he wouldn't point at imaginary spiders next to her head again, Katherine took her seat back on the couch.

It had been fifty days since the last confinement; over a month. The days were growing insufferably boring and seemed to be getting longer and longer. Light refused to admit to being Kira, as he didn't know he was Kira. Misa had basically stopped moving, and L had basically given up questioning her, as she kept yelling at him that her boyfriend _wasn't_ gay every time he tried to. Yagami was being just as stubborn as his son, stating that he wouldn't leave unless his son was either proven to be guilty or innocent. It seemed a lost cause.

However, L had finally finished his plan. It was a good plan, at that. It would definitely convince the team that L didn't know anything that they didn't, and at the same time that Light was, without a doubt, _not_ Kira, since there seemed no way to prove he was in the state. He was also having a more permanent headquarters built in secret that was nearly completed, so he wouldn't be forced to shift around hotel rooms so often. That would make things much easier.

Obviously, Misa and Light wouldn't be allowed to know the plan. Only the task force would, and only Yagami would be directly involved. It wouldn't be too hard to convince him, and L knew for a fact that he wouldn't be killed. Yagami didn't, but because of how he looked at his son, he would believe that he wouldn't be killed. He was brought back to headquarters later that day to be told the plan before the rest of the team; it was important that he knew first, as if he didn't agree to it, there would be no more plan.

* * *

"Y… are you sure this will work?"

"If Light-kun is put into a kill or be killed situation and you aren't killed, then I will be one hundred percent sure that he is not Kira and that Amane is not the second Kira. I believe that someone like Kira would be willing to kill his own family. I have many doubts that Light-kun is Kira now, and that Amane is the second Kira, so I doubt you face any danger. This is for confirmation more than anything."

"Can you hear anything?"

Katherine looked back at Matsuda and Aizawa. Aizawa, who had disapproved of their listening through the door into the other room in that hotel room from the moment Matsuda and Katherine had started discussing it, rolled his eyes at the sound of the question. Apparently, according to him, what they were doing was "childish" and "immature," especially considering the fact that they were going to find out about the plan soon enough, anyway.

"Something about putting Light-kun in a kill or be killed situation. Chief just agreed to it."

"Wh… that would mean that… what?"

"We'll hear more in a minute," Katherine said, moving quickly away from the door. "I don't think Ryuzaki would make that rash of a move just to confirm or absolve suspicion."

Aizawa scoffed. "It's Ryuzaki. He probably would."

She sighed. "I know. I'm just optimistic. Now shut up, they're coming back out here."

Katherine sat down on a chair near her in the investigation room, while the other two moved back to the two separate couches. They heard a door open behind them after a moment. Katherine tilted her head backwards over the armrest of the chair she was seated sideways in, looking at Yagami and L upside down from where she was. She laughed.

"Someone could use a haircut. Other than Afro Samurai."

"Would you–!"

"I'm only kidding!" she said in response to the rather irritated Aizawa. "I'd have to beat the crap out of you if you chopped your afro off. It's a major source of amusement to us all."

* * *

It had been fifty-two days. Fifty-two days of sitting in a prison cell like some sort of criminal, shackled to the point of barely being able to move. Fifty-two days after the start of his confinement, and Light wasn't sure why he was being released, or why he couldn't get any answers from Aizawa, who was leading him to a single car in the lot of the building he had been confined in the basement of. It was a confusing situation, particularly when he saw who was in the car.

"Dad?" he thought aloud, looking at the man in the driver's seat.

Misa was in the back of the car, also shacked. Her muffled yells of "Light!!" could be heard even outside of the car. And he was also being led to the back of the car. He wasn't entirely sure why he had agreed to go out with her. She could bring on a headache faster than a hammer. A confusing situation, indeed…. Light took his seat in the back of the car that he had been led to.

"Light!!" Misa said. "Misa wanted to see Light!"

"Hi, Misa," he said shortly. "Dad, what's going on?" he asked as the car started moving.

"Eh? _Dad?_ Oh no… Misa called Light's dad a _stalker_…"

"Has the suspicion been dispelled?" Light asked. "Are we being set free?"

"No," he said tonelessly. "From here on… you two are being taken to the execution chamber. I took it upon myself to transport you there."

"Wh – _what?_" Light said incredulously. "Execution chamber?! What're you talking about??"

"L has determined that Light Yagami is Kira and Misa Amane is the second Kira. He said that if you are executed, the Kira murders should stop."

"Wh… they should have already stopped," Light said. "That's what Ryuzaki told me."

"That was probably just his method to get you to confess. That isn't the point right now. L's plan has been approved by all heads of the U. N. and the government. Kira's execution will be kept a secret from the public."

"Th… that's ridiculous, Dad! I'm not Kira!"

"Yeah, Dad!" Misa said with a nervous laugh. "He's your own son, you can't do this to him, can you?"

"This wasn't my decision. It was L's."

"You're taking L's word over your own son's?" Light said, gaping.

"L stated that if the Kira murders continued, he would take responsibility by taking his own life."

"Wh… what's he _thinking_?" Light asked in astonishment. "This isn't something that L would normally do. There's something wrong here. Up until now, L wouldn't convict anyone, especially not to the death sentence, with such indefinite evidence. How can he let it end like this?"

"We're here."

Light and Misa, who hadn't been paying the least bit of attention to where they were, looked the windows and saw… nothing? They were in the middle of nowhere. There were no other cars, the ground was dry and dusty. It didn't seem there could possibly anyone for miles… much less an execution chamber. What was going on?

"Dad…" Light said slowly, "where are we…?"

"Ah! Are you planning on letting us go, Father?" Misa said hopefully.

"I did bring you here instead of the execution chamber on my own. Light…"

"Huh?"

"I'm going to kill you and myself here."

"Wha… Dad, what are you saying?! That's insane!"

"You're crazy!" Misa said angrily. "If you do this, you're not any better than Kira!!"

"No. I have a responsibility as a parent and as the chief of police."

"That's _stupid!_" Misa yelled.

"Dad, Misa's right." The fact that Light wouldn't have ever said anything like that in any other situation was left unsaid. "Dying right here is going to leave the truth unsolved. You should know that!"

"Shut up."

Light would have kept on if there wasn't now a gun barrel aimed between his eyes. His dad had gone _insane_. That was the only plausible explanation for what was happening. The Kira investigation had driven him beyond his wits' end. That was bad.

"Light," he said, clicking the gun, "both of us are murderers. We'll meet again in hell."

Light closed his eyes tightly at Misa's scream of "_STOP!!_" He heard the shot moments later… but didn't feel it. Was that normal…? He just barely opened one of his eyes to see the gun smoking in front of him. That meant… he wasn't dead. Didn't it? As he gathered his previously scattered wits back together in the next few seconds, he managed to grasp the situation that had just occurred. And it actually made sense.

"A… blank?" he said, opening his eyes the rest of the way to look at the barrel of the gun.

"Thank goodness…"

"Wh… Dad, what's that supposed to mean??" Once again, the situation made absolutely no sense.

"Forgive me, you two…" he said, resting his head against his arm over the steering wheel. "There was no other way for you to be released from confinement. But please understand that I did this because I believed you weren't Kira. Were you watching Ryuzaki? I did everything as you said. As you can see, I am still alive."

* * *

"Yes. It was a convincing performance." L paused to take a sip of coffee as he surveyed the reactions of the two passengers in the car on the cameras. "In the event that Amane was the second Kira, who can kill just by seeing a face, you would have been killed before Light-kun could have been shot."

Katherine, standing against the wall near the monitor they had been watching said performance on, couldn't help but laugh at the very similar dumbstruck looks on Light and Misa's faces as shown through the camera in the car.

"Also, if Light-kun were Kira, the Kira in my mind would kill his family to get what he needs. Although, in Light-kun's case, it was possible that he could have figured out it was an act. As promised, I will end their confinement. And also, Amane-san will be placed under surveillance as I stated earlier."

"I'm _still_ being suspected?!" Misa inquired loudly. "But –"

"You'll still live a normal life," Yagami said, "and moreover, if you aren't the second Kira, that shouldn't be a problem. It's simply protection from the police."

"Yeah," Misa said thoughtfully. "Misa should just think of this as gaining a bodyguard since Misa _isn't_ the second Kira."

"And also, as promised with Light-kun, I will allow you to participate in the investigation as long as you are under my watch 24/7."

Katherine sniggered a little, knowing _exactly_ what that meant. Matsuda looked over.

"What's funny?" he asked quietly.

"You'll find out soon."

"I understand, Ryuzaki," they heard Light say. "We'll capture Kira together."

* * *

A few days and another hotel room change later, the extent of what "24/7" meant was revealed. The task force was slightly shocked. Light wasn't sure what to think about this new arrangement. L didn't see any other way. Misa was at least slightly more confused than she was in her normal, permanent state of confusion, but still slightly amused. Katherine was standing next to Misa and trying very, very hard not to laugh or point out anything inappropriate about the arrangement. The temptation was a little too much, but she would try to endure for at least another few minutes.

"So _this_ is what you meant by being together 24/7?" Misa asked curiously, looking at the chain linking her boyfriend's left arm to the insomniac detective's right arm.

"Is… is it really necessary to go this far, Ryuzaki?" Light asked uncertainly.

"I'm not doing this because I want to."

"Yeah," Misa said slowly, "it's a little weird, though, you know?"

"I'm _not_ doing this because I want to."

"Question." Katherine raised her hand as though in a classroom, a disturbingly innocent look on her face. When Light and L both looked over, she spoke, trying to keep a straight face. "Doesn't this mean you're going to have to shower at the same time?"

Misa poked Katherine's arm as Light and L glared at her. Katherine looked over.

"If Light _were_ Kira, then wouldn't that make people think that Ryuzaki was the _goddess_ of the new world with this 'arrangement'?" she whispered, also sounding somewhat amused now.

Katherine bit the side of her fist to keep herself from laughing too loudly.

"Hey!" Misa exclaimed suddenly, looking accusingly at L. "How are Light and Misa going to be able to go on dates like _this_?"

"If you intend to go on 'dates' with Light-kun, then there will have to be three of us."

"_What??_ I'm _not_ going to kiss him in front of you! I _knew_ Ryuzaki-san was a _pervert!!_"

"Light-kun, can you please make Misa-san be quiet?"

Katherine glanced back at the investigation team, all of whom had decided to keep out of that mess for the sake of their own sanities. Aizawa and Yagami both looked extremely irritated, Aizawa even more so than Yagami. Matsuda was standing off to the side, looking slightly confused.

"Misa," Light was saying, "you're being stubborn. You should be thankful that you're allowed to go free."

"Without being chained to anyone," Katherine interjected.

"But…" Misa said slowly. "But… Light is Misa's boyfriend. Can't you trust your girlfriend?"

"Ah… you say that, but you _were_ the one that 'fell in love at first sight.'"

Katherine resisted the temptation to point out how good of a burn that was. She didn't particularly want to face death in the form of Misa.

"So when I said that I loved you, you decided to turn it into _your_ advantage and kissed me?" Misa said angrily.

"It was in Aoyama on the twenty-second, correct?"

Misa looked over at L. "Yes…" she said slowly.

"Do you remember why you went there on that particular day?"

"How many times do I have to _say_ this?? I just went there on a whim! Is it wrong for Misa to wander around Aoyama without a reason?"

"But you knew the name of Light-kun after you came back."

"Yes."

"But you don't know _how_ you knew his name?"

"R… right."

"Okay. What would you say if Light-kun _were_ Kira?"

"I… if Light-kun was Kira?" she said. "Misa would love him even more! I've always been grateful to Kira for killing the murderers of my parents. If Light was Kira," she said, latching onto Light's arm and causing him to give her a somewhat uncomfortable look that she didn't notice, "then that would be the _best_. Although Misa _already_ loves Light as much as possible."

_Ugh. Gag me with a freaking __**spoon**__…_ Katherine thought, her eye twitching slightly at the sickeningly amorous look Misa was giving Light. _That's just nauseating…._

"So you aren't scared of Kira at all?" L said.

"I'm not scared of _Light_," she said. "And Misa is a fan of Kira's. Misa would want to help Kira and be useful."

"It appears you would be in the way more than you would be useful," L observed blatantly, "but with this, it seems there is no doubt that Misa would be the second Kira. It's so obvious that I almost don't want to believe it."

"Well, you'd be _right_ not to believe it," Misa said, tightening her grip on Light's arm. "Misa is _not_ Kira."

"Wait a minute…" Katherine said, "does this increase the chance that I'm Kira, or has everyone gotten over that by now?"

"Yes. There is now an equal chance that either yourself or Light-kun could be Kira."

"Shouldn't there be more of a chance for her? Considering I was under surveillance for over a month and a half and–"

"Shut up or I'll punch you," she warned Light, pointing a finger at him threateningly and glaring at him.

"Don't punch my boyfriend!"

"Tell him not to accuse me of being a murderer, then."

"Light, can you _plleeeeaaase_ not accuse Misa's friends of being murderers, pretty please?"

"I'm not the one calling people Kira-face."

"That's because you look like my perception of what Kira would look like," Katherine said. "Never said _anything_ about you being Kira, just that you look like him."

"Hey!" Misa said to Katherine. "Was Kat-chan the one who said that Misa's boyfriend was gay??"

Katherine laughed. "I was only joking. It was meant to be funny."

"But it was _mean…_"

"Misa Amane will still be placed under surveillance," L said, stopping the argument before it could go any further. "I got this connecting room specifically so Misa could visit Light-kun. Please endure this for a bit. Both the inside and the outside of the door of your room require a keycard for access. If you wish to be let out, simply call us through the private line. We have contacted your modeling agency and informed them that Matsuda – who they will know as Matsui – is to be your manager for everything and will go everywhere with you. The police do not know of this, so do not inform them."

"I don't want some old dude to be my manager!" Misa protested.

"Heey!" Katherine said irately, poking Misa in the arm. "Don't call my brother old!"

"Also," L continued, "as you are now expected as being Kira as much as Light is," he said to Katherine, "you will be under surveillance with Misa."

"But that means–"

"You will be staying in the same room as Misa, but will be allowed to help in the investigation."

Katherine's eyes widened in terror. "Guh… th-that's…"

"Awesome!!" Misa said, letting go of Light's arm to tackle her friend.

"Not the word I was going to use…" Katherine mumbled, glaring at L.

"Misa gets to have her best friend as a roommate!"

"Yeah…" Katherine said vaguely, feeling a nervous tick develop quite suddenly in her right cheek. "'Awesome.' Of course."

After a few more minutes of random arguing over completely irrelevant subjects, Aizawa obviously couldn't take anymore. He had a rather scary (in Katherine's opinion, anyway) outburst and ended up practically dragging Misa by her arm to the door to her room and pushing her in, then shutting it. Katherine sighed in relief, collapsing to sit on the floor with her legs crisscrossed.

"The Afro Samurai hath saveth the day."

"Would you _stop_ calling me that already?"

"I thought you were friends with Misa?"

She glared at Light. "You're her boyfriend. Why don't _you_ live with her for a week and see if your sanity is still in tact?"

She shot a glare at L now. Despite the fact that he was the cutest panda in the world, she was going to _kill_ him in the most painful way imaginable if Misa made her play dress-up. Aside from dress codes at schools, _nothing_ could make her wear a skirt. _Ever._ Or at least… that's what she was hoping….

* * *

_Mucho sorries for not updating in a couple days. Again. I keep getting dragged to random places to go school shopping._

_Blargh. It sucks. I don't want to think about school. -sobs-_

_And I thank the people who brought this story up to __**over **__**TEN THOUSAND**__ hits. THANK YOU!!_

_Aaaand…_

_Oh, all teh comments!_

_YAY!_

_Seventeen on the last chapter alone! _

_I'm remazeded._

_Remazeded is a synonym for "amazed" and will be taking cactus's place as WotD (Word of the Day) for now._

_I almost have cactus talked into coming back. _

_I told it that it could have chocolate cake if it did. _

_And when it comes back, I'm going to nail its C and its S to the floor to make sure it doesn't go back to Arizona until its week is up._


	27. Chapter 26: Bothered Focus

_Disclaimer: Me no own._

* * *

"But Kat-chan would look _cute_ in the black one!"

"Misa, for the last time, I _don't_ wear skirts."

"But you were wearing one at Toudai!! Misa saw you!"

_I'm going to fucking __**kill**__ that panda…_ Katherine thought, feeling a muscle in her cheek twitch in reflexive irritation. _L, you are __**so**__ dead._

After an hour in the same room with Misa, she had already started on Katherine about her band t-shirt and jeans. Katherine had put up with Misa doing her hair into the same type of pigtails that Misa wore, and she had put up with the red eye shadow and rose-colored lipstick. However, she was working on the Kira investigation team. She refused to dress in a freaking Gothic Lolita outfit while working on a serious case. Absolutely _refused._

"But _Kat-chan_, Misa-Misa will be sad if Kat-chan doesn't just try on the skirt…" Misa pouted. "_Pleeeaase_?"

"_Fine_…" she said. Just that simple word made her flinch. "But I'm _only_ trying it on and–"

"Yay!! Now Misa just has to find a good pair of stockings and some nice jewelry and a matching shirt! Kat-chan's boots are already good, so they should go, but Misa might have to redo Kat-chans make-up after she changes and and…"

Katherine tuned the rest of Misa's ranting out, taking the ruffled skirt from Misa and nodding occasionally. She knew that if she didn't agree, Misa would just tie her to a chair or something until she did. Misa _was_ her friend and everything, yeah. Katherine just wasn't sure _why_ Misa was her friend.

This was going to be a very, _very_ long surveillance period.

An hour later, after a complete refinish on her make-up and her hair, as well as a few black streaks added into her hair with washable dye, Misa pushed Katherine in front of a full length mirror.

"See see _see??_ Misa-Misa _told_ Kat-chan it would be cute!!"

Katherine looked at the frilly red and black corset top she had been forced to wear. She attempted to pull it up over her cleavage a little more, but it was no use. It was meant to be that low cut. The skirt was _far_ too short for her taste, not to even mention the fact that she did _not_ wear skirts. Then there were those fishnet stockings with the flowery-looking designs that made her want to cringe, along with the matching arm warmers that trailed all the way up her arms and to her shoulders with the leather, elbow length ones over top of them. The only thing about this outfit that she liked was her boots. Her _own_ boots. She particularly detested the choker necklace she was made to wear. She didn't like having any necklaces around her neck, particularly not chokers.

That muscle in her cheek started ticking again. She wanted to carve that muscle out of her cheek. She _knew_ that Misa was going to use her as a life size Barbie doll when she was told she would be staying with Misa. She just _knew_ it. Katherine hated the regular sized Barbies enough. She used to chop their heads off as a young girl, which she often got in trouble for at her orphanage.

"Okay," Katherine said in a choked voice in response to Misa, looking in absolute terror at her own reflection in the mirror. She let out a small, involuntary whimper. "Please let me change back into my clothes now."

"No!! It's _cute_, why doesn't Kat-chan just wear it for today??"

She sighed resignedly. "Alright…" she said. "Looks like I'm not working with the investigation team today."

"Why not?" Misa asked, tilting her head sideways. "It's cute. I think it really suits you." She nodded.

_No it's not you look like a fecking hooker change NOW you bleedin' idiot!!_

Katherine managed to ignore the various voices in her head that were screaming at her at the top of their metaphorical lungs. One of them pressed that button that made that one muscle in her cheek jump again.

"I _can't_ focus on a serious investigation when I'm dressed like _this_, Misa," she said. "I just _can't_."

"Awwww, you're no fuuun…" Misa pursed her lips and stomped one of her feet on the ground in the manner of an upset child. "Misa thinks Kat-chan needs more opinions so Kat-chan isn't so self-conscious about it!"

"No!" Katherine yelped. "N – no… Kat-chan doesn't need any more opinions, Misa. Trust me. She _doesn't_."

"Yes she does! I'm calling them and telling them to unlock the door!"

Misa ran over to the phone in their room before Katherine could stop her. Katherine groaned, backing herself into the wall and sitting there with her arms wrapped around her knees as she listened to Misa talk to whoever had picked up the phone over there.

"Misa-Misa and Kat-chan want to come into the other room. Could Matsuda-san please open our door? Thank you, Matsuda-san!"

Katherine let out a fake sob as Misa ran back over to her. Misa crossed her arms and looked down at Katherine.

"Come on!" she said. "Kat-chan has to get up! Please??"

"_Kat-chan_ is going to die of _embarrassment_," Katherine said, tilting her forehead onto her arms. She felt both of Misa's hands seize her arm and start pulling on it.

"Come _on_, Kat-chan!" she whined. Katherine heard the lock click and the door open. She groaned again. "Kat-chan needs to help the investigation team!"

"Mattie!" she said loudly, her voice muffled by her arms encircling her head. "I need to borrow your gun!"

"Wh… why?" came a confused voice in return.

"So I can kill myself before I have to _die_!"

"Wha– oh." She heard an amused laugh. The muscle in her cheek went off again. If this kept up, that muscle twitch was going to be a permanent handicap. "Playing dress-up?"

"Yes!" Misa said. Katherine sighed in relief when she felt Misa's hands leave her arm. "And Misa-Misa keeps telling Kat-chan she looks cute but Kat-chan's being self-conscious!"

"I look like a hooker!" she said loudly, her voice muffled by her knees.

"Kat-chan won't leave the room and get second opinions like Misa suggested."

Katherine sniffed loudly. "I don't want people to see me like this. I look ridiculous."

"Well… you can't _make_ her leave," Matsuda said uncertainly.

Hah. He obviously didn't know Misa very well yet. Misa could force an elephant into a refrigerator if she set her mind to it. Of course, Katherine was equally stubborn. She supposed that was part of why she and Misa were friends.

"Yes Misa _can!_"

"But–"

"Leave the door unlocked, Misa-Misa and Kat-chan will be out soon!"

He laughed. "Alright."

Katherine felt the vice-grips that were Misa's hands latch onto one of her arms again and attempt to wrench it away from her leg. She held on tighter. "I shall _not_ be moved!"

"Matsuda-san," Misa said. "Will you help Misa-Misa?"

"Mattie, if you help Misa I'm going to remove your arm."

Misa looked back at Matsuda. He blinked a few times, and then backed away a couple of steps. "Sorry," he said. "I've seen her in kill mode before. It scares me."

"Misa in kill mode will scare you, too," Katherine assured him, finally looking up.

He laughed. "Make-up too?"

"Yes," she said through gritted teeth, her eyes turning to ice.

"The blush really brings out your homicidal stare, you know," he said.

"I'm not _wearing_ any blush…" Katherine grumbled, her cheeks turning redder. She didn't even realize she had been blushing in the first place…

"Good idea!" Misa said cheerfully. "If Matsuda-san keeps saying things like that, Kat-chan will chase him out into the main room!"

"Where Mattie will then get attacked and most likely murdered!" Katherine said in a sardonically cheerful manner.

"Ah… yeah…" Matsuda said, scratching the back of his head as he backed away a few more steps. "I like being in one piece, so… yeah."

Matsuda turned and walked back out into the main room, leaving the door open as Misa had asked him to. The rest of the team looked at him oddly.

"Misa made her play dress-up," he explained. "Now Misa's trying to get her to leave the room, since she's sitting on the floor in the fetal position and contemplating suicide. Misa told me to leave the door open. I don't want to die, so I did."

"About time karma hit her," Aizawa said.

"Shut up Afro Samurai!" came Katherine's yell from the other room.

"Stop calling me that!"

"It's either afro samurai or gangster cop! Take your bloody _pick_!"

Matsuda started to laugh, but quickly stopped when he saw the glare Aizawa was giving him.

"Let me _goooo…_"

"No! Kat-chan has to go–"

"_Please…_ I need to change clothes, I look like a bloody prostitute!"

"No Kat-chan does not! Stop saying that!"

"Yes I do!"

"Sh… shouldn't someone stop them before they get into a fight or something?" Light suggested uncertainly.

"If we get in the middle of it, we'll get killed," Matsuda said. "And I'm not exaggerating. If we take sides with one of them, then the other'll kill us."

"I'm in agreement with Matsuda-san," L said, taking a bite of the cake in front of him. The entire team couldn't help but gape a little, even Matsuda. They were all thinking the same thing: since when did L start agreeing with _Matsuda_? "If we separate them, they'll turn against us, which will make working on the case more complicating. They will solve this on their own."

"I don't want to!" Katherine's voice yelled from the next room.

"Eventually," L added.

* * *

It took almost two hours, but Misa managed to pry Katherine off of the floor and drag her by her now gloved arm (Misa thought that her leather elbow length arm warmers and her fishnet arm length ones would look simply _adorable_ with the outfit!) into the main investigation room, where Katherine took a seat in the corner and glowered at Misa or anyone who would so much as glance over at her. When she remembered it wasn't Misa's fault about five minutes later, she switched the main subject of her glaring to L. _He_ was the one who had put her in a room with Misa. That was just twisted. And _evil_. She was going to find some way to get him back.

The way Katherine was looking at L was beginning to scare him a small bit. He had never seen so much malice and utter _evil_ in a pair of eyes before, not even when Light had been Kira and he had gone into a state of permanent Kira-glare while in confinement. She was obviously angry. He had expected her to be slightly angry about the arrangements, but he had never expected it to come to this. Had he let a Kira suspect (while he didn't suspect her, two members of the team did, so he did have to pretend to suspect her) roam around freely while he had chained another to himself just to keep an eye on him, there would have been either questions raised about just _how_ he looked at her or – if he dared for even a moment to think in the same way as her – what the relationship between himself and Light _truly_ was.

L didn't think she would actually _let_ Misa do something so… demeaning was a word that came to his mind. She really had no reason to be ashamed, but considering her attitude, she would be anyway. And she would want revenge. That's what that glare meant. It meant that Katherine didn't blame Misa for this torture. She blamed _him_. He wasn't sure what idea she would come to, but it was obviously going to be mortifyingly painful and possibly traumatizing. It wasn't so much the glare itself that scared L. It was the fact that he knew the mind behind those eyes was thinking up some maddeningly frightening form of revenge to use on him. He wasn't one to care what people thought of him, but he was sure that she would be able to find some way to humiliate him as much as she felt she had been humiliated by Misa. Although, he still didn't entirely understand why she felt so mortified. He agreed with Misa – for the first and probably the last time _ever_ – that the outfit did suit her rather well.

Katherine had later refused to return to her room with Misa, claiming that she was going to sleep on the floor in the main investigation room in the outfit she was in. It wasn't until after midnight that everyone fell asleep except for herself and L. This made him extremely nervous, particularly when she stood up from her corner for the first time in hours and sat next to him on the couch he had been sitting on. And _glared_.

"You deserve a very, _very_ painful death," she said venomously. "_Very, __**very**_ painful."

He blinked a few times. "Are you going to kill me?"

She glared a bit more. "No. Because you deserve to live through the torture and let it be served as a reminder of what will come to you when you force people to live with Misa Amane."

"You mentioned that you were friends with her in the past."

"I already said this _once_. _Light_ is _willingly_ her _boyfriend_ and even _he_ can barely stand her!"

"Then, I wonder, why is she your friend if you dislike her so much? With what I concluded from my research, it seems that in order to be friends with a person, one must actually be able to stand being in the same room with them for a few hours."

She sighed. "You wouldn't understand…."

"What wouldn't I understand? I may have only one friend, but I believe I understand the requirements one needs to meet to be a friend."

"And forcing them to live with Misa Amane is _not_ one of those requirements," Katherine said through gritted teeth, crossing her arms. She winced slightly, letting her arms down to massage her ribs. "This thing is about to snap me in half…" she said, looking down at the corset she was wearing. "Just have to get used to it, I suppose…"

"Why would you wear it again?"

She gave a hollow laugh, but quietly, so as not to wake anyone up. "This isn't the end. There will be more torture for me to endure. I mean seriously, if you were living with Misa, she'd probably force _you_ to play dress-up with her."

Trying hard to get the disturbing and rather nauseating image of himself in one of Misa's Gothic Lolita outfits out of his head, he looked over at her. "I feel very bad for you."

She sighed at the sympathetic expression in his eyes and moved closer to him, picking up his arm (she had luckily sat down on his left side, where there were no chains to worry about) and laying her head against his shoulder. He rested his arm over her shoulders.

"I'm still getting back at you…" she assured him quietly, "but you're safe for the moment." She nuzzled his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"It does suit you."

Katherine's eyes wrenched quickly open and she glared up at him. "I'm being nice. Don't start that."

"S… start what?"

Her eyes narrowed in concentration, then opened. "You weren't just taunting me?"

"No."

"And you're obviously not lying… if you were lying, you'd be agreeing with _anyone_ but Misa…"

"That is definitely correct."

"Then Misa's right."

"Yes. This time."

She was quiet for a moment. She then breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, it seems like the world isn't going to stop spinning. I don't think hell has frozen over, there's no flying pigs, and I don't hear any rain, so it's obviously not raining malted milk balls. That means that Misa can't possibly be right and you are just agreeing with her to tease me."

She shut her eyes, quite content with her conclusion. She heard the jingling of a chain, and then felt a hand on her cheek, tilting her head up. A pair of lips brushed against hers for a moment.

"I'm not just teasing you."

She smiled wickedly as she opened her eyes. "I guess that means you think I'd make a good prostitute."

"I– I didn't mean –"

"I'm just picking at you," she said teasingly. She reached one of her hands up into his hair, seizing a fistful of the black strands as she pressed her lips against his for a moment. "Which you'll be getting a lot more of in the future."

L sighed. "I only put you in the same room as Amane to keep the investigation team for getting suspicious in the case that I didn't put a Kira suspect under surveillance."

"And to get back at me for confusing you so much."

"That just turned out to be an unexpected advantage of the ordeal."

She glared at him again. Grumbling, she elbowed him in the side and moved away from him on the couch. As far as she was concerned, this would be an unforgivable offense until she could think up a good form of punishment. Something like this required grade-A revenge. Granted, it was pretty bad that he was going to be chained to an amnesic, homicidal megalomaniac, but he had brought that upon himself. That couldn't be considered punishment. She was going to have to come up with a _really_ good plan.

L looked over at Katherine, but decided it would be best not to test her. There was at least a fifty percent chance he would suffer a near fatal injury if he did. Grumbling that she needed to get sleep, she stood up and walked to the door leading into her and Misa's room, which Misa had insisted on leaving unlocked in case Katherine wanted to come back. She was, though she would never admit it, grateful that Misa had the sense to do this. After shutting the door and locking it behind her, she walked over to the couch in the room and fell onto it, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't need sleep. She needed unbothered focus in planning.

Unfortunately, when the light turned on in the room, she realized her focus was going to be _very_ bothered….

* * *

_Not many comments on the last chapter _/

_Oh well. Thanks to the nice peoples who did :D_

_It seems like I'm getting nearly a thousand hits on this story every time I post a new chapter XD that's freaking awesome._

_And (to Sparanda) it's not so much the word cactus as it is cacti themselves. But, it has to do with an inside joke with a long story involving a cactus fight and a rather amusing hospital visit that a friend of mine still hasn't lived down._

_On a related note, the new word of the day is disestablishmentarianism._

_It's like antidisestablishmentarianism, except minus the anti part._

_This does not effect the word of the year, though, which is now officially __blarghlbitz – thanks to Volital. And if you insist, I won't ask :( lol_


	28. Chapter 27: Coffee Flavored Liqueur

_As always, I'm grateful to the commenters, even though there were still a few less than usual. I'm not complaining, I'm happy I'm getting any attention :)_

_Disclaimer: Me No Own._

_Minor Warning: Tipsy-ness and coffee tainting. Oh noez!_

* * *

Katherine gave a heavy sigh and closed her eyes in annoyance. She didn't even have to _look_ to know who had just turned on the lamp. She didn't even have to think about it. She opened her eyes back up to stare at the ceiling, but was forced to again shut them tightly in irritation when she heard the voice of her roommate.

"Misa-Misa knows something Kat-chan doesn't _knoow_!" came a teasing voice.

"Then _enlighten me_, why don't you?" Katherine said through gritted teeth, glaring over at the blond.

Misa pouted her lip out. "Is Kat-chan still mad at Misa?"

Katherine sighed, looking at the back of the couch. "_No_, I'm not mad…" she said. "Just tired."

"Yay! Misa-Misa thinks someone has a crush on Kat-chan."

Katherine looked back over and cocked an eyebrow. "What're you on about? You mean someone on the team? I'd hope not…"

However, Misa nodded. "Ryuzaki-san was looking at Kat-chan a lot today."

Katherine allowed her eyebrow to lower back down to its regular elevation. If there was one thing Misa was good at, it was spotting things that had to do with "crushes" or "relationships" or "love." That was going to make living with her even more unbearable. Judging by the tone in her voice, she was already planning on playing matchmaker.

"Misa," Katherine said, "Ryuzaki is a social recluse. He probably doesn't even know what a crush _is_. He'd have to research it to figure it out. I think you probably made the wrong assumption."

"Can't Misa ask Ryuzaki-san?"

"No."

"Well, Misa _is_ going to ask Ryuzaki-san when no one else is listening!"

"He's chained himself to Light. And knowing Ryuzaki, there's a something of a chance he may have swallowed the key to make sure Light wouldn't attempt to find it and make a break for it so he could go be Kira again. That makes things virtually impossible, seeing as someone will _always_ be listening."

"But Light is Misa's boyfriend!" Misa said indignantly, crossing her arms. "Light wouldn't tell anyone if Misa asked him not to."

Katherine examined Misa's expression, and could immediately tell that arguing her would be no use at this point. Her mind was set on it. When Misa was determined to do something, even the Great Wall of China couldn't stop her. So, with a sigh of resignation and a dismissive hand wave, Katherine turned her head back to the ceiling.

"Go ahead," she said. "But just don't go lying and saying I like him or something. That would just be mean. Besides, I'm planning on playing a trick on him."

"But _that_ would be mean, Kat-chan!"

"Well, depending on the trick, maybe it would be mean. But then again, it could also turn out to be quite amusing, don't you think?"

"But if Ryuzaki-san has a crush on Kat-chan, then Misa asking him about it wouldn't do any good if Kat-chan is going to be mean!"

"But he bugs me…"

Now it was Misa's turn to give up. She sighed and looked at Katherine, who was staring intently at the ceiling with a pensive look on her face. If there was one thing she was an expert on, it was pranks. Teachers in their high school used to be afraid to punish her for anything for that reason. Misa wasn't entirely sure why Katherine wanted to play tricks on him and torment him. It was a little mean, especially considering she was _sure_ he had been looking at her all day….

"Okay… Misa won't… but what is Kat-chan planning?"

"Misa," Katherine said, looking over, "you have a photo shoot for a magazine tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, Misa does…"

"Alright. Considering you have to go everywhere with Mattie, we'll have to let him on it and make him swear not to tell. We may need his assistance, anyway, when it comes to buying a few things."

"What _is_ Kat-chan planning to do??"

"Something involving coffee flavored liqueur."

* * *

Katherine was nervous throughout much of the next day. She wasn't at all nervous about the prank she was planning. She had it planned out perfectly. Or, at least, she hoped she did. It would be funny for everyone else and quite embarrassing for L if all worked out properly. So that didn't make her apprehensive at all. The only thing _she_ was overly nervous about was the damn wig she had to wear in public since her alias was still Amaya Matsui, now the younger sister of Misa Amane's manager who also happened to be friends with Misa. It _really_ felt like it was going to fall off every time she moved her head. She absolutely hated that.

Not to mention, the _real_ top of her head had an itch that she couldn't get to through the wig and the hairnet with the bald cap underneath the wig to keep her real hair from showing. So she wasn't just nervous. She was extremely irritated.

They left the studio that Misa's photo shoot had taken place for whatever magazine she was going to be in at around noon. As no one else had a car, they had taken Katherine's, and considering she allowed no one to drive her car except her, she was driving and attempting to scratch her head through the black wig she was wearing at the same time.

"Alright," she said suddenly, giving up and finally putting her hand back on the wheel. "Mattie, you're going to help myself and Misa with a plan."

"Wh-what?" Matsuda looked up from the back of the car between Misa and Katherine. "What plan?"

"Well," Katherine said slowly, "myself and Misa cannot buy what we need for this plan due to age issues and the law and so on, so you're going to have to do that for us."

"What's the plan??"

"She still hasn't told Misa," Misa said huffily, glaring at Katherine. "Just that it involves having to buying coffee flavored alcohol."

"Y… you're not going to… isn't that a little much?"

"A little much _what_?" Misa said, now turning halfway around so she could look between Matsuda and Katherine.

Well, Misa _did_ have to know something since she was going to have to know about the prank itself. However, Katherine was going to have to lie about what it was revenge for. Seeing as the revenge was really for her being forced to live with Misa, it might have hurt Misa's feelings a little.

"Durring your confinement, when the suspicion of me being Kira started to rise, Ryuzaki decided I shouldn't be on the investigation team, and without so much as a warning, I was kicked out. It didn't last very long, but I never got my revenge, so I'm going to now."

"By tricking him into drinking alcohol?"

"Coffee flavored. And possibly peppermint schnapps. Tastes like liquid peppermint, you know, it's pretty cool. I imagine that, considering how antisocial and afraid to show his face to the public eye he is, he won't know much about alcohol, meaning he won't have a particularly high tolerance either, meaning he's going to embarrass the hell out of himself."

"I still think that's a little cruel…"

"Of course you do."

"If I don't agree to buy the–"

"I'm paying for it, you're just doing the purchasing. There'll be extra in it for you if you agree."

"It still seems wrong… but…" He sighed. "Alright…"

"Thank you. We're also going to need to buy a thing of some sort of coffee creamer – liquid coffee creamer, to be more specific. That will be replaced with a certain type of liqueur. They gave us a shopping list anyway; they all apparently think we're servants. Coffee and creamer were two of the things on said list."

"So what does Kat-chan need to buy?" Misa asked.

"I'm thinking just Irish Cream to replace the regular coffee creamer. As far as coffee liqueur is concerned, that's about all. I think that may be all we buy, anyway, anything else would be too much of a risk. Besides, there're Irish Cream flavored coffee creamers out, so that would work perfectly, don't you think? It might be cruel, but we'll all get over that when the humor of the situation kicks in."

* * *

_This seems so very wrong…_ Katherine thought to herself, looking at the container of coffee creamer as L opened it. _What am I thinking? That son of a bitch is making me stay in the same room as Misa, who calls me __**Kat-chan**_…. Katherine shuddered at the very thought of it. _This'll be revenge. And if it isn't good enough revenge, I'll switch his cheesecake for fruitcake. There could be no worse revenge than that…._

She watched as he poured a copious amount of the "coffee creamer" into a cup over top of the coffee already in it. Since real Irish Cream was actually a blend of cream, coffee, and a certain other ingredient that gave it a particular edge, more of it would definitely be better than less. He dumped a handful of sugar cubes in with the mix and stirred it with his half evaporated lollipop. She faked a cough to cover her laughter as he took a drink and then looked at the cup oddly. L apparently decided to shrug the taste off after he gave a close examination of the coffee creamer's container, as he then continued drinking from the cup.

From the chair she was seated in as the rest of the team worked on the case, she looked from Matsuda to Misa. Matsuda looked extremely apprehensive. Misa didn't even seem to notice anything out of the normal as she attempted to talk Light's ear off between telling him about her day, asking him about his and then not giving him any time to answer, as well as asking him if he missed her. She never seemed to noticed the ignoring tone in his voice when he agreed to everything she said, and if she did, she definitely didn't care.

No one but Matsuda and Katherine seemed to notice anything out of the normal until about an hour and a few more cups of coffee later. That was when the hiccoughing starting. Katherine bit down on the side of her hand. Everyone glanced up, but no one seemed to pay any heed to the sudden distraction. L looked a little confused.

Indeed, L had realized his perception was starting to change a little. One thing that he had always managed not to do when working on an important case was start hiccupping. That in itself was a little odd, not to mention the feeling of lightheadedness. He looked at the coffee creamer again and thought for a moment. He hadn't ordered a particular flavor, but this one _was_ a particular flavor. After a quick glance around to see if anyone was watching his use of the laptop, he minimized his screen and brought up the internet. As Katherine had been out with Misa and Matsuda, he had every suspicion that this could be some sort of revenge. How, he wasn't sure…. So, when he typed in "Irish Cream" on google, then carefully retyped it because his fingers had disobeyed him to spell out "Iiisfgh Creeamm,n" with the keyboard the first time, and then clicked on the link to the Wikipedia page, he immediately understood, even though the print looked more blurred than usual for some reason or another.

_Crap…_ was his first thought as he read the very first sentence of the entry. _"Irish Cream is a cream liqueur based on Irish whiskey, coffee, cream, and other ingredients, which can be served on its own or used in mixed drinks or as part of a shot." Should've known she was up to something when she insisted on going with those two…. Wait… does this mean I'm… inebriated…? Oh, damn, I can't work on the Kira case like this…. __**Not**__ good…._

"Ryuzaki?" he heard a voice say.

L looked over at Light, who was looking at the screen of L's laptop in a mixture of confusion and slight amusement. "Eh?"

"Why're you on Wikipedia looking at alcohol?" he asked quietly.

L glared over in Katherine's direction. She was biting the side of her hand in an obvious attempt to suppress a grin as she _pretended_ to read over a list of possible Kira suspects. L picked up the coffee creamer and handed it to Light, who examined it for a moment.

"It's just a flavor."

"I somehow don't think so." He felt himself hiccup again. He bit his thumbnail in agitation and annoyance. "I believe some kind of switch may have been made."

Light took the lid off of the container and looked in, then smelled it. "I think you're right," he said, trying not to laugh. It seemed impossible, but L was actually _drunk_. Maybe not quite drunk, but at least close to it. Whoever had done this – and he had a suspicion he knew who it was – was a genius. Albeit an evil genius, but _definitely_ a genius. "How many cups of coffee have you had with this?"

"F…" he thought for a moment. He normally didn't have to think about it. This was _bad_. "Five. No, six… maybe seven. Six and a half, this would be my seventh."

"And how much of this did you put in each cup?"

"It would have been half to three quarters of coffee, then half to a quarter to an eighth of a cup of that to leave room for the sugar cubes." He had just realized his actual accent was starting to leak into his words. He could normally disguise it when speaking another language, but that was proving quite difficult.

"Alright," Light said. "If you can avoid it, don't try to stand up at any point in time."

"Why?"

"Because you'll probably fall back down."

"… Oh."

"And don't drink any more of it."

"B… but it's actually quite good."

"Alright. If you want to try to find Kira while you're intoxicated, go on ahead."

Katherine watched the two and wondered what they were talking about. It was quite obvious that Light had just informed L that the coffee creamer did indeed have an alcohol content. Not to mention, L seemed to be having trouble maintaining his usual sitting position, as one of his legs kept sliding down onto the floor involuntarily. His neck also appeared to be having trouble supporting his head. She almost felt a little bad, but it was so, _so_ worth it.

Matsuda was still overly nervous he was going to get into trouble for this. Especially when Aizawa looked up and noticed that L's normally eccentric behavior was even stranger than it usually was. _Then_ asked Matsuda about it.

"What's with Ryuzaki?" Aizawa said quietly. "First he started hiccupping, now it looks like he can barely keep his head straight."

Matsuda pretended to have just noticed. "I-I don't know. That's really weird."

"He looks kinda buzzed." Aizawa looked at Matsuda suspiciously. "And that coffee creamer was just opened, and he was acting perfectly normal – or… as normal as Ryuzaki can actually be… before he opened it. And I believe it was you that was given the list of things that the hotel room was out of that we needed?"

Matsuda laughed nervously. "Have you ever considered becoming a private investigator, Aizawa? It think you'd probably be good at it and–"

"You did something, didn't you?"

Matsuda blinked a few times, but didn't respond. He went back to the paperwork he had in his hands and pretended to read it. Aizawa looked at Matsuda, then at Misa. Misa didn't seem to notice anything out of the normal was going on, but that was Misa for you…. Then Katherine. She was behaving more eccentrically than usual, too, but in a different way. She kept glancing up at Ryuzaki and Light, who appeared to be talking about whatever was on Ryuzaki's computer screen, and then shifting her eyes back down to her paper and biting the side of her fist. This was obviously her doing, as she looked like she was on the verge of tears from trying so hard not to laugh.

"Dammit." L looked up from the computer screen and at Light. Light, who had never heard L swear, looking at him perplexedly. "How long will it take this to wear off? I can't focus on _anything_."

"Should just last for today, considering the time…" Light said. "But… you've never had alcohol before, have you?" L shook his head no, which seemed to make him dizzier. He decided quickly that he wasn't going to do that again. "Then you definitely don't have a high tolerance, and you'll probably have a hangover tomorrow."

"H… hangover…"

"That's when you–"

"I know what it is, but that means it'll be another day without working on the Kira case _and_ _**they'll**_ know!"

"I think at least a few of them already do, Aizawa was just pointing at you and talking to Matsuda. Obviously the person who did this knows." At this, Light noticed L give a glare back at the chair Katherine was seated in. "I don't know if my dad's noticed yet or not. Since Misa was with the most likely suspect, I'm going to assume she knows what's going on, and so does Matsuda, since he looks really nervous about something. Oh, and you're definitely going to sleep tonight."

"Why?"

"Because alcohol can do that to people. And you'll just get worse if you try to stay up all night. Or stand, for that matter. Or move much at all. Or–"

"I get the point…" L grumbled.

He definitely didn't understand why there were people out there who actually _liked_ getting… _inebriated_. It made absolutely no sense. That Irish Cream concoction was quite delectable, but the side effects were absolutely horrid. He had somewhat brought this upon himself. He had imagined that her vengeance would be quite grave. However, he had _never_ imagined she would go to lengths like this. Not only would this have the potential to embarrass him if he hadn't noticed right away or – as Light had stated – if he did much moving or attempting to stand up from his seat, but it would also impair his judgment, his ability to think, _and_ his vision. He blinked a few times, and then found himself examining his hand… and wondering when that particular arm had grown a second, blurrier, slightly transparent hand.

He could only hope that she didn't have anything else planned. He was lucky enough that everyone had still fallen asleep before him later that evening except for a certain coffee-tainter that he had every intention of confronting. She walked over and sat on his couch after everyone was asleep and looked at him, grinning.

"Have ya learned your lesson?"

He pointed at her. His hand felt heavier than usual, and he looked down to notice that it looked like he had grown a second index finger. That was a little scary. He shook this thought out of his head and went back to the accusations that had been nagging the inside of his head for the past some-odd hours.

"My suspicion of _you_ being Kira has gone up by thirty percent."

Her grin only widened. "How much is it now?"

"Uh…" His hand fell down. "… thirty percent more than it was before. I just said that."

"But how much does that make the total?"

"Um… thirty… six. Yes. Thirty-six."

"Uh-_huh_." She held up her hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

He blinked a few times, obviously trying to bring his vision into focus. Squinting, he spoke uncertainly. "F… four."

"Ah, good, you're not that bad off, then. I've seen my friends get a lot worse."

He blinked a few more times. "I'm sorry."

"For placing me in the same room as Misa?" He nodded shortly. "Have you learned your lesson?"

"Yes. But you're still going to have to stay in the same room as her for now."

She looked at him offhandedly for a moment. "Say 'bloody hell' in English."

"Wh– why?"

"Because I need to see something."

"No. You're trying to determine my nationality."

"Well, you've already done that fairly well. I'm just doing this for my amusement."

"Then what is it?"

"British, obviously. And if not, you have probably lived there most of your live."

"Damn…"

She laughed as she stood up. He looked up at her in confusion. "You need to go to sleep," she said. "You're going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning. Just ask Aizawa for some of his aspirin, that should settle your headache."

"What about the nausea?"

"You'll just have to live through that like everyone else."

He sighed and leaned over onto the arm of the couch closest to where he was sitting. "You're evil."

"I know." She bent down and lifted up his bangs to place a kiss against his forehead. "Now go to sleep," she said, ruffling his hair a little.

He grumbled sardonically in his protest, but closed his eyes anyway. Confident that her revenge would prevent him from doing anything in the future as horrible as putting her in the same room as Misa Amane and telling her she had to live there, she walked off towards the door to hers and Misa's room. She opened it slowly (as Misa had left it unlocked again for her), shut it behind her, and lay down on the couch in the already lit room, looking at her blond friend as she sat in her favorite chair.

"Is Ryuzaki-san mad at Misa-Misa or Kat-chan or Matsuda-san?"

"Nah. Maybe a little at me. He told me that the chance I'm Kira has increased by thirty percent, but he probably won't even remember saying that by morning."

"Kat-chan was still mean to do that since Ryuzaki-san likes her."

"But wasn't it amusing when he tried to stand up a couple hours ago?"

Misa giggled. "And then Ryuzaki-san actually _swore_, that _was_ funny. Misa thinks Matsuda-san is scared he's going to get into trouble."

"He won't. If I don't, then he won't."

Misa sighed. "Kat-chan is still mean for this."

"Yeah, definitely. But I'm still an evil genius."

* * *

_Ah, vengeance! And alkie-ma-hol!_

_Irish Cream is pretty good. Just don't tell anyone I know this information -shh!-_

_And again to my commenters and fans: Thank you!_

_And also to my viewers, whether ya like the story or not: Thank you! A thousand views a chapter is freaking awesome. I'm up to over 12 thousand hits now!_


	29. Chapter 28: Hell

_Bits of this were inspired by the name of an MSG (Michael Schenker Group) song. Let's see who can figure out what song it is :) I have issued a challenge._

_Same disclaimer as always, you already know it. Go to the last chapter and all of the same things apply._

_And for those of you that were upset at the lack of details in the last chapter, there will be more details of the period of inebriation in this one._

* * *

"Where're Ryuzaki and Light-kun and Misa-Misa?"

"Bathroom," Katherine replied to Matsuda vaguely, looking through her tenth list of Kira suspects. "I believe Misa followed Light, and Ryuzaki was feeling a tad bit ill."

"I wonder why…" Aizawa said sarcastically.

Matsuda nervously gulped at Aizawa's comment, but Katherine grinned to herself. Even so, despite how amusing the inebriation period itself had been, this bit of the revenge made her feel bad. She could remember what her first hangover had been like. Lots of migraines, sensitivity to bright light, absolute anger at sounds that were normally only slightly irritating, mood swings, and, of course, lots and lots of retching. She wasn't sure if the nausea or the migraine was worse. It had been quite a while since L had practically dragged Light down the hall and into the bathroom. So, it was only a few minutes later that Light was practically dragging _him_ back out into the main investigation room, Misa following Light closely. L walked with a little bit more of a slump than usual, and rather than sit on the couch in his usual manner, he fell over onto it with a very pained expression on his face, grumbling something that sounded quite a bit like "never drinking coffee _again_…." Well, after her own first hangover, Katherine had decided not to drink some things ever again, but coffee hadn't been on the list. A few coffee-like beverages, maybe, but not coffee itself.

Despite his previous attitude of accusation, even Aizawa looked slightly amused. The only person who didn't look very amused was Light, who looked slightly nauseated himself now as he sat on the floor, since there was no more room on the couch. Seeing as the chain on the handcuffs wasn't long enough to reach outside of the bathroom and L insisted upon leaving it on as often as possible, Light had likely witnessed L's own nausea taking its toll on him, which probably made him a little queasy. That was perfectly normal for a lot of people, after all. Light looked over to see the rest of the team exchanging looks of amused suspicion.

"Ah… Ryuzaki's not feeling too great, so he's not going to be doing much work today."

"Misa has never seen _anyone_ have this bad of a hangover," Misa said wonderingly.

Ah, ignorance could indeed be bliss. Misa seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that everyone in the room was attempting to avoid mentioning that what Ryuzaki was experiencing was, in fact, a hangover. Of course, they had been avoiding mentioning it to avoid any questions about it, such as the most inevitable of them, which Aizawa decided to ask first after the laughter ceased.

"Yeah," he said, "but how exactly does that happen without any kind of alcohol?" He looked at Matsuda, who went immediately from amused to terrified. "I think that someone here probably knows."

"I think he spiked his own coffee without anyone knowing it," Katherine interjected.

If he could have spoken without the little axemen in his head attempting to chop their way out through his eyeballs, L would have told her to shut the hell up. Especially since her commentary evoked a giggle of amusement from Misa, the very sound that happened to be the number one leading cause of eardrum bleeding, glass shattering, and the rioting of miniature axemen in peoples' heads. With a noise of frustration blended with pain, he covered his ears with his hands. He wasn't sure if he had ever before been in this much pain in his entire life. He had never even known those godforsaken axemen existed within the boundaries of his skull until this morning. It was absolute agony.

After an explanation of what had really happened (_"Well, you see, he __**did**__ spike his own coffee, he just didn't __**know it**__ at the __**time**__…"_) and the reasoning behind it (_"I'm pretty sure everyone can guess why I did this, and you should all take it as a warning not to fuck around with me."_), everyone worked on the Kira case in dead silence. Despite the occasional need to ask questions, everyone kept to themselves for fear of being killed by the hung-over and obviously irritable detective. The one good thing it had done was it had given him a good night of actual sleep, and it appeared that he was probably going to fall asleep again.

L, who had taken his hands off of his ears, listened vaguely to her explanation. He refrained from scoffing at her reasoning. Sure, it had been wrong of him to make her live with Misa Amane. However, _no_ torture could have been worse than that of a "hangover," not even being forced into the role of Misa's own personal mannequin. _She_ could talk when _she_ had mad axemen attempting to hack their way through _her_ skull….

"But it _was_ funny when he fell over…" Misa said reasonably.

"And when he forgot Light's name," Katherine agreed.

"No it wasn–!" L started to sit up, but fell back down. "Ow…" he said sheepishly, covering his head with his arms. He flinched at the sound of Misa's most sympathetic tones.

"Poor Ryuzaki-san…. Misa _told_ Kat-chan it was mean!"

"Isn't there _something_ we could give him?" Matsuda said.

"Aside from prescription strength pain killers and more alcohol to wash them down with, no," Katherine said. "I doubt caffeine would help the headache, but seeing as he never wants to drink coffee again, that's not a problem."

"I think this is probably the cruelest joke I've ever seen played on anyone…" Aizawa said quietly.

"No," Misa said, "Kat-chan can be really evil when it comes to playing jokes. When Misa and Kat-chan's science class was going to dissect frogs, Kat-chan protested by hiding frog legs in the teacher's salad. And Misa doesn't mean the cooked kind of frog legs," she added, shaking her head.

"That's… disgusting."

"_That_ was absolutely _awesome_." Katherine laughed. "I'd forgotten about that. The whole class got A's on the project and we didn't even have to cut any poor little frogs open. Of course, I got detention for the next month aside from the A, but that wasn't that big of a deal."

After that, everyone basically remained quiet. They were all still very afraid that their detective friend might turn homicidal if they continued being loud around him. Of course, he did give off the impression of being in far too much pain to be able to kill anyone himself. He was fairly incapable of doing anything. He probably couldn't sit up, he definitely couldn't work, and there was a slight chance he wouldn't be able to make it to the bathroom if he got sick again (although everyone really hoped he _was_ capable of at least that). He was indeed a very pitiful being at the moment, and he probably felt as such.

Katherine couldn't help but wonder if he remembered the previous night. Aside from swearing far more than usual, he had indeed forgotten Light's name and begun referring to him as Kira-kun. After attempting to stand up a few times, he ended up hitting his knee on the table in front of him, then telling "Kira-kun" to kill said table. He had also asked a few inappropriate questions to a few members of the team, mainly Light and Matsuda, since he seemed to find embarrassing them hilarious.

Try as he may, L really couldn't remember anything after the second time he had attempted to stand up. He couldn't even remember _what_ had made him try to do such a stupid thing. He did remember that after that, everything became a lot blurrier and a bit more amusing. He wasn't sure what about the memory… or, at least, attempted memory… was amusing, but it did give off some vague feeling that there had been laughter involved. Naturally there was embarrassment; he had been _drunk_, after all. Even the word itself was completely unappealing. And its synonyms were just as bad. Drunk, inebriated, intoxicated, blitzed, sloshed, tipsy; it didn't matter what it was. They all sounded horrible. Not quite as bad as Misa's laughter – for which he would have strangled her if he could have moved his arms – but definitely worse than a car horn.

He attempted to open his eyes now. The light in the hotel room seemed brighter than usual. If fact, it seemed dazzlingly bright. Florescent, even. No, worse than that, it was _blinding_… and it _burned_. Subconsciously uttering a noise of pain, he closed his eyes tightly, grumbling a list of random swears under his breath as he did so. He crossed his arms over his eyelids and his forehead to block out even the dull, red glow of the back of his eyelids from the little bit of light that could penetrate them whilst they were closed. He fealt his head pressurize even more and throb harder yet in pain. It was ruthless, unrelenting torture like he had never experienced in his life.

And so he decided, Christianity was full of shit with its description of a fiery pit of doom – _this_ had to be hell. No worse torture than this could be real on any plane of existence. Alcoholic beverages were the drinks of Satan and he planned to never go near another one again in his life for fear of being pulled back into this hell. He shifted slightly in an attempt to get comfortable, and his shifting was immediately followed by an either angry or pained voice from someone else in the room.

"R – _ouch!_ – Ryuzaki, could – _ow_ – could you stop kicking me in the head?"

"I would if I could feel my legs," L grumbled in response.

"Wh… I can't hear you, you're mumbling."

"Ryuzaki-san says he would if he could feel his legs," Misa's voice replied.

"Wonderful…" Light said with a sigh.

Due to the length of the chain on the handcuffs, it was impossible for him to move away any further. L, however, did not plan on moving at all any time in the near future. Moving may have actually killed him. Though death may have been a relief from this suffering, it probably wouldn't be a very good thing for the Kira case.

* * *

L was lucky enough to be over his hangover by that afternoon, which meant that he could work on the case for the rest of the night and stay up by means of coffee with the _other_ container of creamer that hadn't been tainted with. Katherine remained in the main room until after everyone had fallen asleep, and had decided to use up the last bit of her _special_ coffee creamer. L was simply amazed that she wasn't the least bit intoxicated after drinking the rest of it straight, to the point that he had to ask _how_ she could have possibly managed that. She laughed in response to the question.

"With friends like mine, I developed a rather high tolerance after a bit." She smiled. "Although there was a time when I was much like you. By the way, how much do you remember?"

"N… not a lot."

"How likely am I of being Kira?"

"Not… very likely, why?"

"You said there was a thirty-six percent chance that I'm Kira now, you know. You also forgot Light's name for a while and started calling him Kira-kun, but not before asking him the classic question: 'Hey, Light-kun, what was you're name again?' And does your knee hurt?"

"Yes, actually…. Why?"

"That was from when you attempted to stand and you hit your knee on the coffee table in front of you here. You then told 'Kira-kun' to murder the coffee table because it was 'being an ass.' You gave everyone a good laugh."

L flinched slightly. "You're _still_ evil…"

She looked at him for a moment, widening her eyes. "Oh. So you don't like me anymore, then. I see."

She turned her head to look at the wall next to her, grinning as she heard him sigh in exasperation. She closed her eyes at the feeling of his hand on her shoulder, and her grin turned into a simple smile. She had been a little worried that he might be a little angrier at her than she had originally imagined after the side effects of his inebriation took effect. She opened her eyes and looked back over at him.

"I really do apologize, I didn't expect it to be _that_ bad." She rested her head on his shoulder, looking up at him. "You're not too overly mad at me, are you?"

"No," he said, not bothering to look down. "I don't have to get any revenge, either. I'm sure Misa will take care of that well enough."

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "You know, I think I prefer you drunk, it makes you funny in a more goofy and less evil way… although you did get kind of touchy-feely with your man-bitch over there."

"I did _what_?"

"Well, you did the drunken arm-around-shoulder thing and asked him if he was gay – quite loudly, if I might add– and then before he could answer, you told him that you think Matsuda has a crush on him. No big deal, just made Matsuda turn red, then kind of greenish, and I do think it almost made Yagami-san attempt murder. What's that?" she added, looking at the screen on his laptop. "Apartment building?"

He took a moment to answer. He almost wanted to remember the previous night, but at the same time, he was afraid of remembering it. _She_ might have preferred him drunk, but _he_ was definitely never drinking anything with any sort of alcohol content again….

"Helloo?"

"It's going to be the new headquarters when it's finished," L said, snapping out of his thoughts. "It's very close to being done now, so we should be relocating there by the end of the week. There is already all of the equipment for the Kira case that we will need there. Each floor is a separate apartment, one of which yourself and Misa will be sharing."

"Two bedroom, I'm hoping."

"Yes. There will be cameras monitoring every room in that particular apartment–"

"I'm starting to think Misa was right about you being a pervert…"

"– and you will be given your own key in and out of the room so you can work on the Kira case. Misa will not, as she isn't working on the Kira case herself, but she only needs to call to get out of the apartment and down to the investigation floor."

Katherine poked him in the arm, raising her eyebrows. "How do you plan on transferring my notebook if Light is _chained_ to you?"

"That's quite simple. It is hidden just behind the left side of the table the television in your room is on. You will be in charge of transporting it, and I will again hide it the next time I am given the chance. Until then, you'll just have to refrain from killing any suspects."

She sighed. "I'll do my best. But I want Kira-face to die for more than one reason. Other than the fact that he's Kira. Considering he's an insufferable little shit that's more worried about the condition his hair is in than the Kira case itself…

"Speaking of Kira, any remote ideas yet on who the newest one might be?"

"No," he said slowly. "It's hard to actually look at it as there being a new Kira when no one else on the team realizes, so if I start to look at it as such, they will assume I know something." L pressed his thumb to his lips. "Working with people who have no idea of what is truly going on is truly irritating. I have to also act like I think Kira didn't change until I can find groundbreaking evidence that proves he did…"

"Have you tried looking for patterns in the killings?"

"There's nothing as far as heart attacks are concerned, it's the same as the old Kira. Just criminals. It's hard to pick out other types of deaths, as you never know if they're natural or caused by a Death Note…."

* * *

"Ryuzaki-san?"

L flinched at the sound of _that_ voice next to him that early in the morning. She had called and asked to be let out and he _had_ agreed to it, so it was his fault. However, considering she would have only complained about it to Light later in a very loud and annoying manner, letting her out of her room was the lesser of two evils. Of course, this nuisance was Misa Amane, the dread of all those suffering hangovers, headaches, or hangover induced headaches. Luckily, L had none of the three this morning, which mean she wasn't quite as dreaded as she could have possibly been.

"Kat-chan told me not to do this –"

"You'd probably be smart not to go against her word…"

"Kat-chan wouldn't play tricks on Misa-Misa! She– oh, Misa is getting distracted, she _needs_ to ask Ryuzaki-san a question!"

"Go ahead," L said, half-ignoring her as he checked on the progress of his research headquarters again.

"Does Ryuzaki-san like Kat-chan?"

"We're basically friends. Even if she is the reincarnation of Satan."

"Misa doesn't mean as _friends_," she pressed on. "Misa-Misa sees Ryuzaki-san looking at Kat-chan all the time."

"Is that so?"

"Is Ryuzaki-san ignoring Misa??"

"No."

"Misa _hopes_ Ryuzaki-san isn't ignoring her, it would be _mean_ to do something like that. So does Ryuzaki-san like Kat-chan?"

"As I said a moment ago, we're friends."

"Misa _knows_ that already! I'm not stupid, you know."

_Could've fooled me…_ was what he thought. He luckily managed to stop himself from saying it.

"I'm aware."

"Misa isn't _asking_ what Ryuzaki-san's and Kat-chan's relationship is right now, Misa is asking Ryuzaki-san what he thinks about Kat-chan."

"I know what you're asking me."

"Then why isn't Ryuzaki-san answering??"

"I'm busy, and you're questions aren't particularly important. I do not engage in those sorts of social relationships, and my job prevents me from doing so anyway."

"Well, does Ryuzaki-san think Kat-chan is pretty?"

It was obvious that Misa wasn't going to leave him alone. L really just wanted her to go away. Her interrogative skills weren't very good, for one thing, and that was utterly nerve-racking. And for another, he wasn't about to give her any information that would cause her to attempt to play the role of Misa Amane the Matchmaker. Her persistence of the subject would only drive him over the borderline between genius and insanity.

"_Does_ he?"

"Misa, try to understand this. I am not personally attracted to people's physical aspects."

"Well, Kat-chan _is_ smart."

"But evil."

"She _can_ be nice!"

"When she's not playing the role of Satan brought to Earth."

"Is Ryuzaki-san mad at Kat-chan?"

"Not particularly."

"Then why is Ryuzaki-san saying such mean _things_?"

There was only one way to end this quickly. L glanced over at the boy sleeping in a sitting position next to him. Then, L elbowed him hard in the arm, causing him to jump awake. He looked around for a moment, then his eyes widened in terror at the sight of Misa. And, incidentally, the plan had worked. Misa's attention quickly switched to the now awake love of her life. L sighed inwardly in relief. There was _one_ benefit to being chained to the megalomaniac; he was a good decoy when it came to distracting his followers.

* * *

_To my commenters: You've broken my record! I got 19 comments on the last chapter XD I'm so happy._

_I averaged the usual one thousand views, so more happiness!_

_-hugsforeveryone!-_


	30. Chapter 29: Double Date

_Holy crap! Shiiiiiiitttt I'm sorry I've taken so long to update._

_I was going to earlier today, but my mom got a new book and I hijacked it from her and spent the entire day reading it (and finished it because it was just that good (It's called __The Academy__ by Bentley Little (if school scared you before, it will scare you forever once you read that book)))._

_SORRYYYYY!!_

_**Disclaimer**__: I don't own Death Note, Irish rock music, or Metallica. They are just mentioned in my AN here and in my story. Except only Death Note is mentioned in the story itself_

_**Other Disclaimer**__: I only pick on Matsuda because he's my other favorite character, so please do not hate me or kill me._

_Anywhozle. Currently obsessive over Irish inflected rock music. Yepyep. And it's all Metallica's fault with their cover of "Whiskey in a Jar". Dammit._

_Not really. I like Metallica :) or, at least, I do from when they were still thrash metal. Then they forgot what guitar solos were and it made me a tad bit angry._

_Just a bit of random information for you :)_

* * *

"But _Kat-chan_, Misa-Misa doesn't _want_ to be left alone with that _per–_"

"I'm _not_ staying in here. Besides, you won't be alone, Light'll be here."

"Yes, Misa knows Light will be here, but–"

"I've said it once– no, _far_ more than once, Misa. I'm _not staying in here_ just so I can listen to you complaining about Ryuzaki being chained to your boyfriend."

Misa huffily crossed her arms and legs and looked away from Katherine, who was quite welcoming of the quiet. It was nice to have such a large flat to live in now rather than a hotel room. It was easier to escape from Misa and it didn't feel like Misa was everywhere she was. When she was less apprehensive, she was better at winning arguments with Misa. Misa was still insisting that L had a crush on Katherine, but walking away was a lot easier when she had her own key and Misa didn't.

The new investigation headquarters had been finished by the week's end and everything that needed to be moved was already moved. It was definitely far better than the other option of changing hotel rooms every other week; this was a permanent headquarters that none of the police except those working on the investigation team knew about. It was probably about a hundred and something floors, all of which were large apartment complexes, except for the lobby on the bottom floor and the investigation room on another.

Katherine looked over at Misa to see she had a hopeful look on her face again. She was planning another tactic now, she could tell…. Misa looked around the room for a moment and moved closer.

"If _Kat-chan_ here, it would be more like a double date!" she whispered.

"Misa, I _don't_ look at him like that."

"Don't say that! Kat-chan hasn't known him for very long, Kat-chan _could_ start to like Ryuzaki-san, and Misa thinks Kat-chan might already like Ryuzaki-san like _that_ without knowing it!"

She sighed. "_Fine_. You win _this_ time. Alright? I still don't think I like him. But I will stay as long as you promise not to refer to it as a 'double date' again. Okay?"

"Okay! Thank you, Kat-chan!!"

Katherine grumbled and rolled her eyes skyward in response. Misa never failed to be annoyingly persuasive, and it wasn't even like she was good at arguing! She only stated the same points over and over again to annoy the other party into agreeing to do what ever _she_ wanted. It was effective, but that didn't mean she was good at coming up with actual arguments that made any sense. Granted, L had already said he had a crush on her. And she _did_ like him. That meant Misa was standing on solid ground in this particular argument. It didn't, however, give her the right to hold Katherine hostage against her own free will. That was completely unjust and even more unfair…

"What _now_?" Katherine said impatiently, noticing the close examination she was getting from Misa.

"Shouldn't Kat-chan change into something a little less–"

"If you attempt to put me in a corset again then you will regret ever being born."

"Doesn't Kat-chan have any less… um… dirty t-shirts of her own?"

"It's not dirty, it's just baggy."

"Yes, but that makes it look grungy…."

Katherine looked down at her shirt. "But it's an Alice in Chains shirt. They _are_ grunge."

Misa sighed. "Misa isn't talking about what kind of music it is, Misa means that Kat-chan's skirt looks scruffy and messy. Kat-chan doesn't have any girl's t-shirts?

"At my house, yes. You can give it up, Misa. I'm not changing. If you try to make me, I'm not even going to stay in here."

Katherine smiled at the look of resignation Misa now had. At least she had won _one_ argument. There was still some dignity to be had in such a situation, and it _wasn't_ going to Misa. Misa had already stolen enough of her dignity just by hanging out with her.

"Kat-chan?" Misa said pleadingly. "Doesn't Kat-chan wear the same t-shirt size as Misa?"

Katherine growled in frustration. "_Yes_, Kat-chan freaking _does_!"

"Then Kat-chan could borrow one of Misa's t-shirts and–"

"Fine!"

"Yay!" Misa said excitedly, clapping her hands.

"Dignity be _damned_…" Katherine murmured as she crossed her legs and leaned sideways into the arm of the couch next to her.

It was then that she heard her pocket start singing, which puzzled her horribly for a moment. But after the first line of the song was sung–

"_Woke up this morning, with a wine glass in my hand_–_"_

– she figured out it was her cell phone.

"Ah, shit, forgot to turn that off." Katherine stretched out her left leg and managed to wrench her cell phone out of her pocket, looking at the caller ID, though she didn't have to. That ringer was set specifically to–

"Don," she said, looking at the front of the phone.

"– _Whose wine? What wine? Where the hell did I dine?–"_

"Don?"

"You've met him," she said, managing to tune out the song on her ringer that was already replaying itself in her head. "You remember we went out partying with a few of my friends one night?"

"Yeah…"

"Don's the one I told you about who got the worm in his shot of tequila and we found him the next morning in jail wearing a pink frilly cocktail dress and some guy's phone number written on his hand, and he still doesn't remember what happened. How anyone could forget such circumstances is beyond me…."

"Oh!" Misa said, seeming to remember. "Wasn't Pat the one with the brown hair?"

"The one you thought was cute, yes."

"Did not!"

"Yes, anyway." Katherine said, flipping open her phone and holding it to her ear. "It's been bloody _ages_, what's goin' on?"

"I was going to ask you that, actually. Your car has been missing from the garage you had it parked in for weeks now. What _is_ going on?"

"Calm down, _Mum_," she said mockingly, grinning at the grumble of annoyance she received in return on the other line. "You know damn _well_ where I am, you fecking id-jit. And if you don't, I ought to slap you."

"Yes, I _know_ you're working on the you-know-what case I'm in public so I can't mention it in case you're wondering, but you've not even been coming home anymore? That seems strange."

"The truth can be very strange when criminals start dropping dead of 'eart attacks, my friend. It's not a simple case, so I've had no free time to spend at home or anywhere else. I'm currently rooming with a suspect, as I am also a suspect, _and_ am under surveillance, mention what I have just told you to no one."

"Aside from–"

"Obviously."

"Isn't the suspect for the second Kira that annoying blond girl you went to school with last year?"

"Yeah."

"Is it her yeh 'ave to live with?"

"Yes."

She heard an amused laugh at the other end of the line, and rolled her eyes at it. On a scale of one to ten, his level of tact was at about negative _infinity_. "And I thought I had it bad being stuck living with Patrick Star–" She heard a garbled yell of "_not-a-fecking-cartoon-fish_" from the background of the conversation, then the sound of breaking glass. "Oi, stop throwing bot'les, ya lunatic, we're in public for the love of God! Shit… make one reference to a cartoon character and you get attacked…. So are you under surveillance?"

"Yeh…" she said with a sigh. "And are you in a bar? If the answer is yes, please tell me where so _I_ can come there and throw a bottle at you as well."

"… No."

"It's eleven in the fucking morning!"

"Well, three in the bloody morning and Ireland and _I_ never used to get 'ome 'til 'round four…" he grumbled. "That's not the point, anyway. I'm outside now, I can ask questions without any drunken bastards breathing down my neck–"

"Can't answer."

"Simple yes and no questions, I'll ask yeh in more detail later. First off, _is_ there a new Kira?"

"What would make you think that?"

"The second Kira is still alive and you are apparently livin' with her, so I'm assuming the first is alive as well."

"Yes."

"And it is that kid with the name that is a synonym of 'illumination' when spoken in English?"

"Correct, and an interesting way to put it."

"Alright, and – oh, hell…. Got to go now, the starfish has just found me–"

"I'm not a bloody _cartoon_ character!"

"– and I think I should run before I'm murdered. Call back as soon as you can give us more information, we might be able to find something else out considering 'ow you're under surveillance and we're not."

"Will do. And don't get too drunk."

"Oh, sod off…"

The other line clicked, and she shut her own cell phone at the sounds of a dial tone, only to find a pair of large, clueless, and curious eyes staring at her from another seat on the couch, belonging to, of course, Misa, who hadn't left her seat since Katherine flipped her phone open.

"Was Kat-chan talking about the Kira case to people not investigating it?" she asked quietly.

"They are investigating it," she said. "They've been my spies since the beginning, I couldn't have found out half of what I know without them and – dammit, what now…"

She flipped her phone open again at the sound of the ringtone corresponding to Don's number.

"Oi?"

"Pat wants to talk to Misa," he said, his tone of voice somewhere between amusement and exasperation.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Put him on."

"'ere," she heard Don's voice say, and there was a _whoosh_ing noise as though the phone had been thrown to someone else.

"'Allo?" Pat said.

"Pat," Katherine said in a falsely stern voice, "I'll not have you whoring yourself out like a piece of meat."

"Oh, come on, now! I just want to–"

"Don't worry, we're all fully aware of what you want to do."

"I want to question her about Kira."

"Of course you do."

"I _do–"_

"You're half blitzed already, I can tell. She's not even in the same room right now."

"Then get her."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"What's going on?" Misa asked curiously.

"I 'eard 'er!"

"That wasn't Misa."

"Why is Kat-chan talking about Misa?" Misa asked.

"Was too!"

"Stop questioning me!" she half-yelled at both of them.

Misa blinked a few times. "Is Kat-chan angry?"

"Not at you," she said to Misa quickly before continuing with her now silent but still tipsy friend at the other end of the line. "Patty–"

"Don't call me that, it sounds girly."

"– go drink yourself into a stupor and call me back when you're sober, you seem to be quite a bit more reasonable when you are. Okay?"

"I'm barely tipsy as it is now, I've only 'ad a few shots. Besides, it's only eleven in the morning."

"You're the one at the bar."

"Which was _not_ my idea. Don practically _dragged _me here. Said I was spending too much fecking time on the fecking case because he's a fecking asswipe who–"

"That's a little harsh!" she heard Don say in the background.

"Go boil yer arse in a piranha tank!"

"Where'd you hear that one?" Katherine asked, with every intention to use it on either Aizawa or Light later on.

"Just came up with it. Good, innit?"

"I'm definitely using it now."

She heard static on the other line for a brief moment. "You're not encouraging him, are you?"

"Oh, but of _course_ not. I need to go. Misa's planning to give me a makeover in the near future," she added, allowing her voice to express her distain at the idea, which Misa luckily paid no attention to. "I'll call you back later. And no matter how much Pat pesters you, please don't call back and let him pester me."

She shut her phone after a quick goodbye and set it on the table in front of the couch. She looked at Misa, then thought of the fairly under crowded bar that Pat and Don were most likely in, and couldn't help but wonder how she managed to turn herself into a magnet for people with less common sense than a toaster oven. Katherine sighed, shaking her head and deciding to dismiss the thought. She flinched at Misa's voice, but not so much the sound of it as the question she was asking.

"Kat-chan is going to let Misa give her a makeover??" she said excitedly.

"No," Katherine said. She tried to make her voice commanding, but her answer more so came out as a spluttered request out of fear at the thought of being dressed in another corset. They _hurt_. "No. No makeover. Makeup, sure, but if you even _try_ to put me in a skirt, I'm going to chop of your pigtails."

"Kat-chan is mean," Misa said huffily.

"Cut it out or I'll tell your boyfriend you have a crush on my friend."

"He might have heard you!"

"Then you do?"

"Misa does _not_!"

"_Ooof_ course not."

Misa crossed her arms in a huff, but then remembered that she had to get Katherine ready for their "double date" (Katherine grimaced at Misa's reference to it as such, but managed to ignore it) and was almost instantly pulling her off of the couch by her wrist as though leading a disobedient child out of a store to give it a good telling-off.

* * *

Matsuda glanced back as the last of the task force entered their new and astoundingly large headquarters… for some reason carrying his pants with him rather than wearing them. He decided it was probably because the metal detector outside of that room wouldn't allow him through with them on for whatever reason and continued showing the chief how to start up the rather complicated computer system, which Matsuda had already been walked through by Light an L. A couple times. And he mostly understood it now. It _was_ complicated equipment, after all…

"And you use this key to start all the computers…" Matsuda was saying.

_I think that's the right key…_ he thought as Yagami listened to his instruction.

Aizawa stopped behind them. "You know, it's a pain just to get in here when you're not used to the retina and fingerprint scans."

_Or the metal detector…_ Matsuda thought to himself contemplatively, glancing back at Aizawa.

Yagami looked back. "What happened to your forehead?"

Huh. He _did_ have a bandage there that Matsuda hadn't noticed upon glancing back.

"I got in a fight with my wife about the hours I've been having to work. My kids are still small, so I'll probably have to be commuting."

"What a waste," Matsuda said, turning after he started the computers. "It's hard to find rooms like the ones here anywhere, even in a million dollar mansion. Your whole family should move in."

"Don't be an idiot, family members are still outsiders to the Kira case. If I were allowed to tell my wife it were revenge for Ukita, then maybe she'd understand. And why is half of the team missing?" he added, looking around.

"Light-kun and Misa-Misa are on a date," Matsuda explained. "We can see it on the cameras," he added in slight amusement.

"Can we?"

"Yeah," he said, taking to the keyboard and remembering how to access the cameras. "There's cameras everywhere in this building, no blind spots at all. In all the rooms, too, but only Misa-Misa and Kat's room is watched regularly."

"Considering they're both suspects, that does make sense. But Matsuda, stop calling her Misa-Misa."

"Right." The name did seem to get on Aizawa's nerves. The cameras came up on the screen. "See?"

In the room, Katherine and Misa were on one couch, both of them looking extremely irritated, but obviously for different reasons. Misa was irritated at L just because he was there. Katherine was glaring between the model and the detective. She was probably still quite upset with L for forcing her to stay in the same room as Misa (hopefully no more revenge would ensue), and she was probably angry with Misa due to the fact that she had most likely been forced into the corset she was wearing.

"This doesn't feel like a date like this…" Misa complained, fixing a glare pointedly on L.

Katherine gave an annoyed noise, picking up a box of Cheez-Its inexplicably from the floor next to her (apparently they had already been there for a little while) and opening them.

"And so it _begins_…." she said through gritted teeth.

She shoot Misa a look of pure evil. If she _was_ Kira, it was probably that glare she used to kill people. There were no _if_s about whether or not her looks could kill. If she glared at anyone for long enough, they would probably die on purpose just to end the threat the felt was being imposed on their lives. Being as oblivious as Misa was, however, she took no notice to the glare that would have burned two eye shaped holes in the side of _anyone_ else's head, and continued glaring at L, who was sitting on the couch across the table next to Light, eating a slice of cake.

"You don't have to mind me. Are you going to eat that cake?" he added, pointing at the untouched cake in front of Misa.

"I try to watch sweets, they make you fat."

"If you use your head, you won't get fat even if you eat sweets."

"Oh!" Misa said indignantly. "There you go making fun of me again."

Katherine sniggered. "Burn. What?" she added in a slightly more aggressive tone as Misa turned her glare on her friend. "You _deserve_ that."

"For what?" Katherine tugged at the material of the corset she was wearing in response – or rather, tried to. It was hard to get a grip on any loose material when wearing a shirt that had _no_ loose material.

"_I_ was under the impression that _I_ was going to be wearing a _t-shirt_!"

"So you aren't going to eat the cake?" L asked again, still pointing.

"If you leave me and Light alone together, then you can have the cake."

"Fecking _made_ me stay…" Katherine grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Even if I leave you two alone together, I can watch from the cameras downstairs, so it's the same thing."

"I told you that's perverted!" Misa yelled at him, leaning forward as she glared. "Would you _stop_ with that kind of fetish?"

"Say what you want," L said, standing up on the couch easily from his sitting position and grabbing the plate in front of Misa, "but I will still be taking your cake."

"Well, fine," Misa said mockingly. "I'll just shut all the curtains and turn off the lamps and things when I'm alone with Light."

"It's also an infrared camera," L informed her.

"Then should we cover ourselves with the futon, Light?" Misa asked him sweetly.

Katherine refrained from finding a spoon to gag herself with, at the same time she refrained from kicking some sense into Misa with the insufferable spike healed boots Misa had forced her to wear. Misa had indignantly denied Katherine's claim that they were "hooker heals," and Katherine had bitterly insisted they were until they both gave up arguing each other's points and Katherine agreed to put them on. It hadn't been fun at all.

"More importantly," Light said, ignoring Misa, "we've moved to a headquarters with better equipment, but you seem to have no motivation."

"Mo… more importantly??" Misa said, between outrage and sadness.

"Double burn."

"Kat-chan!"

"Motivation?" L repeated. "I have none. I'm actually depressed."

"D… depressed?" Light repeated, a mixture of surprise and confusion on his face.

If he was falling for this act, Katherine couldn't help but wonder if Light's test scores really did anything to reflect any common sense that he might have possibly had.

"Yes," L said.

Katherine's mind wandered off as she listened to them discuss this "depression" that L was suffering through (she refrained from laughing at the pitiful act, particularly the fact that Light was buying into it). Apparently, L basically felt depressed because he was wrong about Light and Misa being Kira and the second Kira, even though he still did believe he was correct. This was an obvious lie to Katherine, at the least, considering he could definitely see Shinigami and he definitely knew that Light's Shinigami had left him. This was where Katherine's mind wandered off track. Much of a pain in the ass as that Shinigami had been, she kind of missed its occasional wisecracks, which she had had to compensate for to amuse herself. It just wasn't the same when it was from a human, however, rather than an eight foot tall winged gothic jester that seemed to be a bigger smart ass than herself.

And it _still_ wasn't fair that she had gotten _her_ Death Note _years_ before Light and Misa got _theirs_ and her Shinigami was still in the stupid Shinigami realm. She managed not to roll her eyes at the thought. King of the Shinigami or not, she just didn't give a damn. It was no excuse! Light hadn't even appreciated having a Shinigami. He probably didn't even like buying it apples. It was no worse than buying puppy chow for a puppy, for Christ's sake. She would have even taken a more reasonable Shinigami like Rem. She didn't care.

_Damn jealousy…_ she thought in response to her own mind's incoherent ponderings of Death Gods and why they hated her so much. _Damn it to hel– holy shit he sooo did __**not**__ just punch __**my**__ panda!_

Katherine found herself gaping at the scene as she was snapped back into focus by Misa's sudden shriek, with a slight inclination to lunge at Light like a cheetah and snap his neck.

She managed to refrain.

_For now_… she thought, feeling her fists clench involuntarily as Misa hid behind the couch.

* * *

_The chapters have basically been filler with bits of comic relief lately, but it's leading up to major plot points._

_So please don't be as annoyed with me as I am with myself._

_Aside from this, "Do You Feel Like We Do" by Peter Frampton (ringtone song in story) is what's annoying me now because it's been stuck in my head for the past umpteen days._

_I need to go learn that shit on geetar._

_Thanks ta all the nice reviewers and favoriters. I don't want to thank anyone in particular because I don't like discriminating other peoples (though those who have been commenting since nearly the beginning know who you are and still get extra thanks), and I'm grateful to everyone._


	31. Chapter 30: Resignation

_Omg! Chapter done XD_

_I know - finally, she freaking finished!_

_I'm so very sorry. I started working on my HP stories again, and I was still working on my DN ones a little, just not anywhere near as much as I used to. I've hit a blank on all but **A Gaunt Tale** regarding my Potter stories, so I'll be working on at least **The King's Note** more often._

_For those who don't know, yes, my penname used to be **Bloodstains**, but now it's obviously Comma. But, it's still me._

_Anywho. _

_**I suppose it would be nice of me to mention that all of your appreciation was and never will be forgotten? I mean, it's in a C2 community, has 242 reviews from about umpteen totally awesome people, and 89 favoriters and 84 alerters. I love all of you that have done any of those. I just hope you didn't forget me :(**_

_This continues right off of the last chapter and basically covers chapters 38-39 of the manga. I've finally started watching the anime as well, but I still prefer the manga. _

_Except the part in the anime where L hands Mogi a strawberry and he puts it in his pocket. I almost died laughing. I may include it in here sometime later._

* * *

Katherine gaped at the scene as silence ensued the sudden attack that had been made. L was sitting on the floor against the wall now – or more, hand landed there and not bothered to move – looking somewhat confused by the sudden action, and Light was glaring lividly at the detective. Katherine was more or less trying to figure out where _that_ had come from. And resisting to snap Light's arms off so he could never do _that_ ever again.

"That hurts," L said.

It seemed more to be more of a simple observation than a pained complaint, which, Katherine thought, was odd, considering the size of the bruise developing on her poor little panda puppy's cheek. She shook a look of anger off of her face before it could develop there and kept to looking surprised. Showing signs of emotion at this might signal that they were a bit more than good friends. That couldn't happen; this was a work environment. And at the moment, it was a rather hostile work environment. Now Light was telling him off and grabbing his collar, probably to punch him again, but L took action.

By kicking him.

In the _face_.

Katherine wasn't sure to be surprised, amused, or annoyed by Misa's shrieking as she hurried and hid in the corner of the room. The handcuffs made the situation even more amusing, as the chain snapping was causing them both to be knocked over. The fight was basically a pattern of punch, taunt, kick, taunt, punch, and so on. Light got kicked in the face not once, but _twice_, which was funny as _hell_. Not in Misa's opinion, of course. Katherine joined Misa towards the back of the room, crouching down to watch the fighting without getting in the middle of it.

"Come on, you can't possibly _not_ find this a little amusing," she said to the cowering model.

"Is Light okay? If Light isn't okay, then Misa-Misa is going to hurt Ryuzaki-san!"

"Light's alright. He's got a couple kicks to the nose, but no biggie. On another note, if they keep this up, someone's pants are going to end up falling down."

Misa looked from Light to L, then at Katherine, grinning. "Why did Kat-chan notice _that_?" she asked, her voice both amused and suspicious.

"It's kind of hard to miss, isn't it? – Oh, I think this is the big finish!" she added, turning her focus back to the fight again.

And just as they were about to punch each other in the face at the same moment, the phone rang. They both stopped and stared at the source of the noise for a moment. It looked almost like someone had hit the pause button on a remote control… before L reached over to his side to grab the phone, that is.

"Yes?" he said. "… What happened??... I see."

The annoyed look on L's face indicated one thing to everyone else in the room – Matsuda. He dropped the phone back onto the receiver, rolling his eyes. Matsuda watched from downstairs, slightly disappointed. It _was_ important that Misa was going to be the lead in Nishinaka's next film, and it _was_ L that had appointed him as Misa's manager! If _anyone_ was annoying, it was _L_.

"What's up?" Light asked L.

"Another of Matsuda's unimportant idiocies."

"Well, Matsuda does have that natural ignorance," Light said.

Matsuda laughed slightly, still holding the phone as he listened to them. "Th… those two know that we can hear them, right?"

––

"Headquarters?"

"Yeah. We figure there must be a permanent one by now, you know?"

"Why would you think something like that?"

Katherine turned the coffee table upright in hers and Misa's room. L and Light hadn't bothered cleaning up any of the mess they made durring the fight, and Misa was downstairs, most likely fawning over Light again. She was glad she was there alone, considering _that_. Misa got even more insufferably annoying around her "boyfriend." Of course, the voice at the other end of the phone was beginning to irritate her now….

"I didn't, I was only asking if there was a permanent one," Don said.

"Nah," Katherine said nonchalantly. "We've got to keep moving from room to room in the hotels. It would be easier for anyone opposing us to find us if we didn't. Even with the highest security, there's still a chance that someone could break in if we had a permanent headquarters."

"Like Pat?"

"Yes," Katherine said with a sigh. "He's the only person known to mankind who can pick a keycard lock with a damned hairpin, after all. I only recently figured out how to pick a regular lock with one."

"Pick a keycard lock with a _hairpin_?" Matsuda looked up at the monitors in the investigation room from his paperwork, bemused by the absurdity of that idea. "That's not possible, is it?"

"Kat-chan's friend Pat _says_ he can, but Misa never saw him prove it," Misa said.

"I believe I've heard that it is possible," L said distantly, busy with something on his computer, "but supposedly very hard to do."

"Shouldn't we agree to work with someone on our side that _can_? In case we need to break in somewhere to find Kira," Matsuda said.

"You're suggesting we work with criminals, Matsuda?" Aizawa asked.

"Well… no… but…"

"They're also Kira suspects. If we have them here, we could possibly die."

"Yeah…" Matsuda said with a sigh.

That was all fine. L wasn't much paying attention to the conversation going on upstairs between her and one of her friends; he was busy waiting to see Light's final reaction to L's 'depression.' It had gone through stages; first shock, then anger, and now determination. He was determined to get L back on track with the case; that was, he had been looking for some sort of lead on Kira since he got back downstairs. Misa was still clinging to his arm, which probably made it a lot harder to work. L didn't care – he had considered that Light would lose his temper in response to the plan, but he hadn't thought that he would end up getting a black eye out of the deal. As far as he was concerned, Light deserved whatever torture the blond had to offer him.

"Oh, bloody hell, fecking mess in here…"

L looked back up at the cameras as Katherine was mumbling sardonically. She was shoving her phone in her pocket and centering the coffee table back in between the couches in the middle of the flat's main room. She looked around, shook her head, and sat down on the couch.

She wanted to knock their heads together. All three of them. L, Light, and Misa. L and Light for tearing the place apart, Misa for not even attempting to help clean _anything_. Of course, this could all be traced back to L. She had warned him that this would happen when he ran this idea by her. She _told_ him he was just going to get punched in the face. Stupid stubborn insomnia-afflicted panda …. She rolled her eyes and picked up her box of Cheez-Its from next to the couch, only to realize that there were only about five of the squares left at the bottom of the box. That was terrible, nearly agonizing. All that cleaning and all she had to show for it was a box with five cheese-flavored square crackers at the very bottom.

That left things at no Cheez-Its, a severe lack of chocolate within the room, no soda, clean-up duty, and being forced into wearing a corset. Today was _not_ a good day so far. Except for the fight – that had been the best entertainment since Misa's overreaction to the handcuffs. Of course, she would still be finding some way to get back at Light without him knowing it was her. He may have gotten a foot to the face, but _he_ didn't have a black eye… yet.

If he kept hitting people, he was _definitely_ going to get one.

"Kat-chan!!"

Katherine flinched at the ungodly racket as the blond came traipsing in through the door to their flat. With her lack of comfort foods, it was going to take a lot not to strangle Misa in her sleep tonight. Misa sat down next to Katherine on the couch.

"Light figured out something new in the Kira case! Isn't he soo smart??"

Katherine listened as Misa babbled on about Kira and how he was now killing for his own benefit and masking it to seem like it was still for the good of the world, indicating that Kira was probably someone different now. Katherine already knew all of this, and that L had just manipulated Light into finding this "new" information. Even if he was good at it, manipulating people definitely didn't seem very healthy for him. Any more of it and he might end up losing an eye….

Katherine sighed inwardly as she nodded, still pretending to listen to Misa. It was _definitely_ going to be a long day.

––

"… so Kira can kill people with more than just heart attacks?"

"Right."

"See, I could've told you that _ages_ ago."

"What?"

"Really, I could have. I wouldn't have had evidence to back it, but I could have told you and it would have been true, you just wouldn't have known it."

Light rolled his eyes. "And _how_ would you have been able to tell me that?"

It was Katherine's turn to glare this time. "Remember Al? Who you accused _me_ of killing to take suspicion off of _my_ hands by gaining sympathy, like the stupid Kira-face you are? I would have believed it was suicide, just so he could avoid being killed by Kira – which was the last thing he wanted – but with the message in that letter, it's just impossible to ignore something like that. Then there's Naomi Misora, who disappeared without a trace. Granted, she could have gone off somewhere and died of a heart attack, but I suppose it's going to be impossible to figure out at this point. As far as Al goes, though, _that_ was proof enough for me."

"Yeah," Light said, "but that's pretty circumstantial. The evidence I have is too, but it's a little more believable –"

"What, you think Al left that message because he supported Kira or something? What criminal would bloody _support_ Kira?"

"I'm not saying that wasn't considerable," said Light, sounding irritated (though not half as irritated as Katherine was growing from his insinuations), "I'm just saying that with this – the fact that all the deaths were at the benefit of the Yotsuba corporation and at the expense of the companies standing in their way, that Kira may be there. It's most likely a different Kira at last time due to the pattern he's using to kill them."

"For personal benefit rather than what he thinks is the good of the world," L interrupted before the argument would get too loud or painful to listen to. "It all makes sense if you look at the files."

Katherine continued glaring at Light from her computer chair (which she preferred sitting in much more than sitting next to _Light_, god forbid), but she flipped through the papers on Yotsuba and the deaths at the companies that seemed to be holding them back.

"It definitely doesn't look like a coincidence," said Aizawa. "It seems he's still punishing criminals with heart attacks, and getting rid of people in Yotsuba's way with accidents and illnesses."

"Those big companies do those kinds of things, poisoning people and creating fake accidents to get their opponents out of the way," said Matsuda.

"In what era?" said Aizawa, giving Matsuda the usual _you're-an-idiot_ glare. "Companies these days never do that."

"They do," said Katherine. "They're just better at covering it up now."

"And Yotsuba evidently does," said L. "The question is whether or not it really is Kira related. Three of the deaths of Yotsuba's adversaries were heart attacks. Although, my verdicts are apt to turn out wrong."

"Couldn't Kira have bribed them into working for him?" asked Aizawa.

"No, Kira would never hire anyone. That would mean some company managed to find Kira before myself, which is impossible."

"You just said something about your verdicts tending to turn out wrong and now…" Aizawa said uncertainly.

"I was playing cynical. Besides, Kira wouldn't cooperate with anyone, even if they found out his identity. It's better to assume that Kira is someone inside Yotsuba."

"Maybe Kira offered himself up to Yotsuba," said Aizawa. "He might need funding for part of his plans."

"But that would make Kira cheap and uncool," Matsuda said uncertainly. "That's not groovy at all."

Naturally, this set Aizawa off on him. "So you think Kira's cool and groovy, then?" he demanded, his voice raising. Matsuda cowered into the corner of the sofa in response.

"Umm… no?"

"Well," Aizawa continued, rolling his eyes at Matsuda, "this either has to do with Kira or it doesn't. Either way, we need to investigate Yotsuba, which could prove to be difficult since it's such a major company."

"Watari has a few good contacts in financial circles. It could be reckless letting him investigate alone if Kira is involved, but I'll work that out as we go along with the investigation. Yagami-san should return from the police headquarters soon, and we'll decide on our next move then. We do need to do all we can in the meanwhile, however."

"I can try to hack into Yotsuba's computer network, then," said Light.

"And I'll research Yotsuba's organizational background," said Aizawa.

"And I'll… umm…" Matsuda said uncertainly as everyone else began to stand up.

Katherine shrugged and rolled back over to her computer in her swivel chair. They really needed to wait until Yagami returned before any drastic measures could be taken at all, so Light and Aizawa had basically taken all of the possible assignments at hand.

Within the hour, Yagami had returned to the investigation headquarters not alone, but with Mogi. Light, of course, wasn't to know that Mogi had been working under cover to follow him around and gather evidence against him, only that he had been out doing something for the Kira case. Matsuda was the first to turn around when the door opened.

"Chief Yagami – oh, and Mogi – I have great news," he said. "The research we did turned out good – we think there's a possibility that Yotsuba and Kira are somehow related."

"Yotsuba?" said Yagami, surprised.

"Y… yeah…"

He nodded. "I think that's it. You did a good job."

"H– huh?" Matsuda wasn't particularly used to being congratulated, particularly not for anything to do with the Kira case lately.

"Vice commander has told me that Kira has been bribing politicians."

"Kira… bribe?" said Aizawa. "By using Yotsuba as his financial front?"

"That's a big lead," Matsuda said, "it ties everything together."

"What about our proposal to recruit members of the police across Japan willing to fight Kira? Did he agree?"

"No," said Yagami, his high spirits from the new lead fading slightly. "Quite the opposite. The Japanese police has yielded to Kira; there's no one to recruit."

A surprised silence ensued from this statement, in which Light, Katherine, and L all also stopped what they were doing and turned from the computers to listen. What could have caused the police to back out of a case as significant as Kira's? It was dangerous, sure, but there were still lives at stake, and innocent ones now (of course, corporate nut jobs were generally never entirely innocent, but they didn't deserve death). Katherine couldn't figure it out; even if Kira had threatened the police or something, they shouldn't have backed down so easily.

"I've already had this conversation with Mogi," Yagami continued. "We will both be staying here to investigate." Aizawa and Matsuda looked at each other, both of them confused at the same moment for once. "Aizawa, Matsuda, if you are both still up for the Kira investigation, then come along with Mogi and I and we will hand in our resignation to the police." The confusion was followed by yet another bout of surprise, but Yagami continued. "We will no longer have the option to investigate Kira if we stay with the police. The only way to continue with this is to quit."

"Wh… what do you mean?"

"Yeah," Matsuda agreed with Aizawa, "aren't we in this investigation because we _are_ with the police?"

"I was basically informed that we'll be fired if we continue to work here," said Yagami. "Kira might be behind it, but regardless, it's still an order from above. Our only choices are to obey or walk out on the police force."

Matsuda looked from Mogi to Yagami. "So you really plan on resigning from the police?"

"Yes," said Yagami. "A couple hours from now, I will no longer be a chief. I want you both to decide carefully. Remember that it's not only your life that you're risking from here on out."

"Yeah," said Matsuda thoughtfully, "especially for those with a family and kids to support…"

There was another, more apprehensive silence through the room. Would it really be the best idea for them to stay? Katherine couldn't help but wonder… Yagami and Aizawa both had families. She could see Yagami's justification for wanting to stay – his son would remain on the investigation team regardless, as Light was still a suspect, and Yagami stubbornly refused to leave until Light was proven to be innocent. She didn't know much about Mogi, but he had helped the investigation enough that he definitely would want to see it through to the end. Matsuda didn't have a family to worry about and, though he generally didn't have much to help with, was quite enthusiastic about the job (and about being Misa's manager, no less). Then, there was Aizawa. If anyone would be inclined to leave, it would be him. He had a wife and two young children that were both at risk as long as he continued investigating. He already had to commute back and forth to headquarters because of that, whereas everyone else was just staying on separate floors for the time (except Light and L, as they were sort of chained together, and Misa and Katherine, who were forced to stay together).

"I think everyone ought to return to the police." The statement directed all attentions in the room over to L, who hadn't even looked up from his computer upon saying it. "I was on my own in the beginning, anyway. The police turned away from the investigation out of fear of Kira, but you said you would stay on the investigation rather than with the police. That already means a lot to me. But… I can take it from here on my own. And…" L said, "I promise… I will visit you at the police headquarters one day and hand over the head of Kira."


	32. Chapter 31: Remembrance and Rile

_Woot! Gone for months and I still got five comments on my last chapter in one day!!!!!!_

_THANK YOOO. ALL OF YOU._

_Replies to comments:_

_Volital: O.o I'm a bloody muffin? lol, thanks for the review. I've been really busy with school stuff. I've got a college credit English that's about to kill me, which is the most reason I haven't been able to do much of anything. I've managed to find a bit of time now, though, since it's almost winter break, so I should be updating more often._

_Baytail: Thanks :) The ending was completely from the manga, though, maybe paraphrased a bit, I can't take credit for that._

_Marisol Akyri: I quite liked the manga, but I started reading it before I started watching the anime, so yeah. I do know the anime and manga end differently, though. I've only just gotten to episode 25 in the anime, but I've finished the manga as well as two one-shots based on it, and seen two of the live action movies. But I liked the manga, anywho._

_ActionFry: Just barely alive. I think my English teacher is trying to kill my entire class with all the work, lol. But, yeah, the Aizawa bit was too important to change, since it was him gathering the police to catch Higuchi at his end, and he couldn't have done that if he remained on the team. I had to keep that the same._

_Madeline Cullen: :-O I won't ever forget any of my stories! I might take a hiatus on them, but I delete them if I decide I've given up on them. So, basically, any story on my list has the potential to be continued at any given moment, except my only oneshot._

_Onto the story._

_**Quick summary**: Aizawa can't stay due to technical difficulties, which makes the investigation headquarters seem much quieter without constant arguing going on amongst a certain "distraction" and "afro samurai," but things are bound to get a bit louder when a con artist and a bank robber show up to help the team investigate Yotsuba._

_**Disclaimo**: I don't own L, Ryuzaki, any of his other names, Yagami, the Imagay joke, Light, Matsuda, Aizawa, Aizawa's afro, Mogi, the investigation headquarters, Misa, the handcuffs connecting Light and L together, L's stoic-ability, Watari, the W on L's computer screen, L's computer, the Japanese Police Force, Kira, the second Kira, the third Kira, the seventy-fifth Kira, the 10th of September, Death Note, or even **A** Death Note, Aiber, or Wedy. Anything else may or may not belong to me._

_**Warnings**: Bit of swearing, as always. Not much else, really._

* * *

Katherine raised her eyebrows at the statement. "Beg pardon?" L half-glanced over from his computer. "I sort of gave up my entire life to work on this case. I'm going to have to be dragged forcibly away from the investigation if I'm supposed to stop working on it."

Light held up his left hand indicating the handcuff around his wrist. "And I'm not going to be leaving either."

"Yes," L agreed, "you will both stay here until I catch Kira. But everyone else should return to the police."

"You've made us believe the police's support was indispensable for the investigation," said Yagami.

"You're not going to be police if you quit the force," Katherine pointed out.

"Exactly," L said. "As long as you remained here as a connection to the police, your support was definitely indispensable. However, if you quit the police force and become citizens, it's not quite the same as the 'police's support.' But, the police have decided to abandon the investigation, and I'm fine with that."

"Ryuzaki," Yagami said, "we have risked our lives on this case. We may not be as useful without police badges to our names, but what about our feelings? We're all in this for the same reason. I believe I have the right to make the decision of whether or not I will leave the police force or stay here to work on the investigation as I have been."

"I suppose you do," said L, and Katherine couldn't begin to fathom how Yagami could stand listening to the stoic tone of his voice. "Then please make that decision."

"B… but chief," said Aizawa slowly, "if we quit the force, we'll lose our jobs, that's the first thing. Suppose we catch Kira – then what? Matsuda's right, we both have our families to support. I… I don't think I can risk what I have."

"Next…" said Yagami. "I hadn't thought that far ahead. But if we catch Kira, I guess the next thing will be getting a new job."

Matsuda and Aizawa continued looking at him blankly for a moment. Of course, it didn't take Matsuda very long to agree.

"I've made up my mind!" he said with child-like enthusiasm. "I'm quitting the force, too, I want to help Mogi-san and chief to chase down Kira!"

"Matsuda –" Aizawa began, but didn't manage to get any more in before Matsuda decided to continue.

"My effort finally paid off, since I helped discover Yotsuba had something to do with Kira," said Matsuda. "I don't want to stop now, and I still have my job as Misa-Misa's manager, so I won't be unemployed. I only got my job at the police in the first place because I had a connection there, so it's not a big deal. My family might be disappointed, but I don't want to feel like a loser now for giving up and returning to the police."

"Matsuda, watch what you say," said Yagami quietly.

"Huh? – Oh…" He looked at Aizawa.

"Ryuzaki," said Aizawa, turning to L. "What if I was to go back to the police but spend my spare time here investigating?"

"That would be unacceptable," said L. "The current situation suggests that the police force is no longer on our side."

"But… I'll keep the information just between us like it always was, with you or with the force. And besides, if I return to the police now, they'll be thinking I'm a spy sent by L anyway. You could think of me as a watcher who observes the movement of the police."

"You may continue with the investigation by yourself if you wish to do so," said L. "And you may also give Yagami-san any information you have regarding the investigation. However, you will not be allowed access to any of our information."

Aizawa sighed, looking at the floor. "You're right. We can't allow information to get out of the team. I guess I was just being selfish."

"Chasing Kira while risking your life as a member of the police force might still be a righteous thing to do," said L. "However, it wouldn't be so righteous to quit the police force and cause your family trouble in doing so just to continue working with the investigation team. If you die as a member of the police force, you are a victim to your duty. If you die working here, it's practically for nothing."

"Ryuzaki has a point," Yagami said reasonably. "No one will blame you if you go back to the police force."

"Yeah, we won't call you a traitor or anything," said Matsuda, who seemed to only succeed in furthering Aizawa's frustration with the statement.

"But chief, you have a family and you're staying to work with the team," said Aizawa.

"My son was suspected of being Kira, and was confined, as was I," said Yagami. "I blame that on Kira. It's my decision to stay out of selfishness."

"And might I remind you that I still haven't abandoned my theory of Light-kun being the primary suspect," said L, gaining a look of annoyance from the teenager chained to him.

"Both of my kids are grown," said Yagami. "Yours are still young, you should spend as much time helping to raise them as you can."

"It's… it's not fair. I've always been determined enough to risk my own life. And what would Ukita say if I quit not…? Dammit! This isn't right! I don't see why it has to be like this…"

"_Ryuzaki_." Everyone directed their attention now to L's computer, where a black calligraphic _W_ with a white background had appeared on the screen.

"What is it, Watari?" L asked.

"_You had me promise that if anything happened to a member of the investigation, even if they are fired by the police, that I will support them and their family with a lifetime benefit. Shouldn't you let him know about that?"_

"That's not important, Watari."

"_Oh… I beg your pardon. I just couldn't listen myself and stay quiet…_"

"A lifetime benefit?" Matsuda said in disbelief. "Did you hear that, Aizawa-san?? We can continue to work on the investigation as we have been this way!"

"Ryuzaki," said Aizawa, not looking over.

"Yes?"

"Were you testing me to see if I would leave the force and stay with the team?"

"H – he probably just didn't want to mention that kind of thing himself," said Yagami, though uncertainly.

"Y… yeah. Right," Matsuda agreed hopefully.

"No," said L. "I was testing you to see which option you would choose."

"I see," said Aizawa. "Then I'm leaving."

"Thank you for all your help," said L, amidst the protest of Matsuda. Aizawa only glared back at the statement for a moment before exiting the investigation room.

The silence that followed was almost deadly.

* * *

A couple days passed since the loss of Aizawa. The investigation team had succeeded in finding more deaths related to Yotsuba, but the atmosphere seemed much quieter without Katherine and Aizawa constantly arguing over something, and maybe even less amiable than usual. It would have been even less friendly yet if it weren't for Matsuda constantly talking about something, but lately the top had been how empty the building seemed, only adding to the near constant silence. They were all in the investigation room, except Yagami, who had gone to get a few papers on the supposed Kira killings.

"The building seems to big and empty," Matsuda was saying – even Katherine glared at him for reminding them of this. He looked to his left at Mogi. "Mogi-san's here, but he barely says a word."

"I found another one, Ryuzaki," Light said, leaning forward to look at his computer screen closer. L looked over at the screen as well. "Tenth of September, fell off the staircase at home and died in the hospital from a bad concussion. Junichi Yabe, who was the manager of Otomo Bank. He had been promised the position of vice-president."

"Tenth of September, another Friday," said Yagami, who had just returned from the printer. "We overlooked a simple fact. I was studying our research again, and it seems as though all of the deaths convenient to Yotsuba occurred on weekends."

"Really?" said Matsuda, standing to look at the files Yagami was holding.

"Assuming the killings started three months ago," said Yagami, "the deaths began being randomly dispersed throughout the week, then gradually began focused on the period between Friday evening and Saturday afternoon."

"This isn't making any sense…" said L. "If Kira is behind those deaths, then he has to be able to kill with more than heart attacks. We know he can control the time of death, so why not schedule them for other times?"

"You found something that we hadn't, though," Light said to his father. "This should give us a new lead, Dad."

"I'm not falling behind Ryuzaki and you just yet," Yagami said. "I won't let myself be a burden on the team."

Katherine continued scrolling through lists on her computer through the conversation, the words passing over her as though a swift wind was blowing them away as soon as they hit. As she heard L saying they would need to thoroughly investigate Yotsuba, regardless of whether a member was Kira or Kira was on the outside and just helping them, her cell phone began buzzing in her pocket. She wrenched it out and flipped it open with little thought on it.

"Yes?"

"Kat-chan!!" Katherine flinched – the addition of _chan_ to her name would never go over her head without first hammering on it a bit.

"Yes, Misa?"

"Kat-chan needs to get upstairs and get in disguise if she's coming to the movie shoot with Misa," said that irritating, high pitched voice happily. "I've already laid everything out for Kat-chan, so it shouldn't take long to get ready. Could Kat-chan tell Matsuu if the surveillance isn't on?" Katherine noticed a bit of annoyance in Misa's voice at the thought of the cameras, and on the surveillance (which was on and always remained on) showed her glaring up at one of the cameras in that room.

"The surveillance is already on," said Katherine, standing. "Hold on a moment." She held the phone away from her ear a little. "Mattie, you hear?"

"Eh?"

"Misa's movie shoot's today, be ready to leave soon."

"Oh, that is today…" he said, sounding disappointed as he looked back at his computer, where his research had turned out to be much less than productive this time around. "Right…"

Katherine held the phone back to her ear. "He knows now, it's good. I'll be up there –"

"Watari," L was saying to the computer, "could you please summon Aiber and Wedy?"

"… in a few minutes," Katherine finished slowly, listening to Watari's reply.

"_What? Well, I don't know their whereabouts. Are you going to let them see your face?_"

"It seems that there's no other choice."

Katherine, holding a strange familiarity with one of the names that she couldn't quite explain, said goodbye to Misa and headed upstairs immediately, shoving the cell phone in her pocket as she took the stairs to Misa's and her flat upstairs. She opened the door with her keycard and walked through, only to be instantly greeted by the corset-clad blond.

"Why is Kat-chan's disguise so normal looking?" asked Misa, almost the second she walked through the door.

"Because Kat-chan needs to blend in if she doesn't want to be seen by Kira. She _did_ make an appearance on television, if you remember?"

"I _know_," Misa said. "But wouldn't it be safer for Kat-chan to change it at least a little every time she goes out?"

"No," said Katherine, "not until I'm caught. I was the one that was practically raised by con artists, Misa. You got your tips from me. I think I know a little more about these things than you, don't you? Yes, thank you for agreeing. Well then, I'll be in my room, please don't disturb me."

"But Kat-chan –!"

_Slam_. Katherine locked her bedroom door behind her with a sigh of relief and hurried over to her bed where, indeed, Misa had laid down her disguise exactly as it should have been. At least she hadn't changed it before asking permission, that was one good thing at least. She changed clothes and did her makeup as best as she could to blend in with the general population of Tokyo, then managed to get that godforsaken wig on over top of a hair net that secured her hair in place. She headed out into the main room of the apartment a while later, still pondering over those two names a little, Aiber and Wedy. She wasn't even sure which it was she recognized, just that hearing them had kick started her memory. Apparently it hadn't done so well enough to keep it turned on, however, so now she was bound to be left wondering for the rest of the day.

As she returned to the main room, she was grateful for a distraction from Misa in the form of her phone singing at her from her pocket. She pulled it out and signaled for Misa to be quiet as she answered it.

"'Ello?" she said.

"Oi, lead on the Kira case," said Don. "Yotsuba, big company in Tokyo. Quite a few of the company's adversaries have been turning up dead in heart attacks, accidents, and illness. We've obviously figured out by now Kira can kill with more than heart attacks, so it's probably him, but Pat also noticed he was only killing on weekends."

"We just figured out the weekends bit," said Katherine, following Misa out of the door to their room. "We've known the Yotsuba addition for a couple o' days now. Anything else interesting?"

"Not really," said Don. "Pat's ready to break into the building and investigate the second he gets the command."

"Not yet, we want to investigate a bit more over on our end first."

"Right."

She heard a bit of static, then Don saying _'Not yet'_ to someone in the background. This was followed by, "Oh, stayed sober for bloody _nothin'_! I'm really starting to hate her!"

"Are you _sure_ you don't want him to break in?" asked Don apprehensively.

"Positive."

"Bugger…" he grumbled. "Now _I've_ got to put up with him sloshed off his arse for the rest of the night. You're lucky we 'aven't got a clue as to where the hell you are."

"I know, guts for garters, all that mess," said Katherine dismissively. "Got to be going, anyway, I'm being dragged off somewhere. Can't tell you where according to rules, as you might be Kira and out to kill whoever I'm with, which would be disasterous. I'm under constant surveillance, so there's no chances I'd get away with it."

"Ah, right, right. Then I'll call you as we get more information – although Pat's now saying he's through with the investigation, but he'll be over that in a couple hours."

"He always does that, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. Bye, then."

"Bye."

Katherine shut her phone just as they made it into the investigation room. They left from there for the movie shoot, Katherine wondering all the way where they could have possibly heard that name from.

* * *

Katherine had spent some time trying to convince L that the investigation team needed Pat and Don to work as spies within the Yotsuba company. Naturally, she knew he was just as stubborn as her, if not more stubborn than, and that he would be hard to convince. However, she was determined, having had spent three days after the call from Don trying to talk him into it. She knew herself that Pat could easily infiltrate the building, while Don could make up a few fake college degrees and identities and work his way to the top in no time, figuring out in the process what was going on with the Kira situation. L claimed he believed her but that it "wouldn't be necessary."

"That might be true," she said, for the hundredth time in those three days (causing Yagami, Mogi, and Light to all three roll their eyes at her), "but they would come in handy. Why not take free spies? It doesn't make any damn sense, what's the point in denying the fact that they would be useful? If anyone would be paying them in the end, it would be me, but considering the number of credit card scams they're running, they don't even need pay. It's only a hobby for them at this point."

"They are Kira suspects," said L (he knew they _weren't_, but he _had_ to say that in front of the others, making matters more complicated since he was chained to Light at all hours of the day), "and we already have two hunting Kira himself. Two is enough, and any more cannot be trusted to meet with the investigation team in person."

"Then they _won't_," said Katherine. "They don't need to come here. I'll meet with them – wearing a bug, even, if I have to, so you know we're not discussing Kira-type things – and deliver them information that they need to get into the company. They break in undetected, and it's only a crime if they're caught. Pat could break into the White House in the States and steal the bloody Declaration of Independence if he set his mind to it, virtually undetected. Yotsuba wouldn't be a challenge. Don's friends with virtually every world leader you could name, but none of them even know he's the same person. You couldn't get better than that."

"Maybe not better, but equal is good enough," said L, turning around in his chair to face the other side of the room. Everyone else turned, except Katherine, who was silently fuming. She took a swig of coffee, halfway wishing it was alcoholic so she wouldn't have to add onto the collection of bruises L still had (though they were fading) from his last fight. Panda puppy or not, this was all starting to get a bit nerve-racking. To top it off, she no longer had anyone to take out her frustrations on through form of argument now that Aizawa had left. All she had was her coffee… or, L's coffee, rather, as he paid for it, but that didn't matter!

She did listen, though, when she heard an unfamiliar voice speak.

"Aiber, con artist. Nice to meet ya all."

"I'm Wedy, professional burglar."

L glanced over at Katherine in enough time to see a muscle in her cheek twitch in something like annoyance. However, accompanied by the look in her eye, it was obvious that the annoyance was accompanied by something else: a strange combination of remembrance and rile. That couldn't be a good thing at all.

* * *

_I've already started the next chapter, and I'm hoping to have it done by midnight tonight (Eastern U.S. time)._


	33. Chapter 32: Thieves, Cons, and Spies

_Ugh. Annoying. Freaking. Crap. I meant to finish and upload this last night, but the second I looked away from the computer, my head told me it was going to explode if I didn't take some ibuprofin and go to bed. Tonight, sleep be damned. By George, I promised a chapter and with Bob and Jebus as my witnesses, there shall be chapterness._

_And replyness._

_Volital: That works out, then. I combined my old username with Comma, so I can still be a bloody muffin, I suppose, lol.  
Madeline Cullen: I suppose that's what it meant. It's 11:56 here at the moment right now, it'll probably be midnight by the time I post it.  
Marisol Akyri: And already working on more :D  
ani-sand: Ah, muchos gracias :) I've been planning the Wedy and Aiber thing for ages, I'm glad I finally got to it.  
ActionFry: Updated as soon as I could, and hoping to get one in tomorrow or the day after._

_All rightio. Here be the chapter._

_**Disclaimo**: See last chapter, can't be bothered to type all that again. And in my own defense, I think Wedy and Aiber both rock. This does not reflect anything about my feelings regarding them, as I thought Wedy was particularly awesome.  
**Warnings**: Attempted murder, swearing, name-calling.  
**Quick Sum**:_ _Katherine's out to kill; Wedy's amused; L's afraid for his life (or his sobriety) again; Light, Yagami-san, Mogi-san, and Aiber have no bloody idea what the hell's going on; Matsuda's choking on his damn soda; and Light's been chained to the leg of the sofa in his sleep. Fun times, yepyep._

* * *

At the sound of the voice from behind her, Katherine whipped her chair around. She had started to swallow a mouthful of coffee with abso-freaking-lutely _impeccable_ timing. She choked on the coffee in surprise, causing her to receive odd looks from the rest of the team at this sudden employment of eccentric behavior. She now knew why she had recognized that name. _Wedy_. How could she have _forgotten_ that name? She managed to swallow the coffee she was choking on, and then her mind moved over into immediately homicidal mode. This was a very bad thing to go with the accompaniment of her shock at the blond woman standing in the room.

"You – y-you – you– you fucking skank!" she managed sputter out in her combination of disgust and disbelief.

This made Matsuda choke on the soda he was drinking in surprise. Light, Yagami, L, Matsuda, Mogi, and Aiber all looked between the two women in a mixture of fear, confusion, and even possible amusement. Wedy only raised her eyebrows from behind her darkened sunglasses, which she lowered slightly to look at Katherine. Katherine's fists were shaking in agitation as she fought every voice inside her head yelling at her to steal Matsuda's gun and shoot Wedy in the face while he was distracted with the soda that had just attempted to enter his lungs.

Then she remembered Matsuda didn't have a damn gun anymore, anyway, so that thought definitely wouldn't be very much of a help to her.

"Nice to see you again as well, Kim," said Wedy kindly (though Katherine knew differently).

"It's not _Kim_," Katherine growled, an annoyed muscle above her lip ticking.

"Changed your name again? Talk about an identity crisis."

"Yeah, well… you're a stupid bitch!"

This was completely new to the investigation team. They had all seen Katherine get into arguments before. She always came up with witty retorts that drove the opposing party to forfeit. At the moment, however, all she could come up with was a number of swears that seemed to do nothing more than amuse Wedy, which only infuriated Katherine more.

"So tell me," Wedy said in a mock-kind voice, "how has your friend Pat been?"

And _that_ was the straw that broke the camel's back. A series of events occurred in less than a second of time. Katherine leaped from her chair and started at Wedy, who backed up a few steps, but was miraculously not killed, as Matsuda and Light had managed to hold Katherine back at about three feet away from Wedy. After a minute of struggling, she wilted in her own defeat, though she was still scowling menacingly at Wedy. Light, who had been on the receiving end of her signature Murderer's Glare many times, was amazed that Wedy seemed to be highly entertained by it.

"If you _ever_ say that name again, I'm going to cut your tongue out with a butter knife and feed it to a fish," Katherine snarled ferociously.

"That sounds painful," Matsuda whispered to Light, who nodded in agreement.

"It bloody well will be painful!" Katherine snapped at him, causing him to jump with a slight yelp to accompany this.

"So what is it this time?" Wedy said. "I know you were using the name Kimberly O'Connery on your credit cards and the deeds for your house."

"It's 'Katherine,'" she said, distain icing over her voice. "And that's what I've been going by for years, thanks. You just never knew anything about me because I didn't _like_ you."

"That's awfully insulting. I was engaged to one of your best friends, after all."

There was more struggling after this statement. Despite her small size, she was hard to hold back, mostly because of how much (and how hard) she kicked and elbowed.

"Let– me–go!!!" she said between barrages of kicks. "I'm – going to – fucking – _kill her!_"

"Then I guess you know each other," said L.

"Definitely," said Wedy calmly, as Katherine's attempts to break free again withered. "Shall I explain?" she asked Katherine. She glared in response. "I'll take that as a yes. A few years ago, I had devised a plan to get a bit of money off of a bank in Ireland. I was a little low on cash and I needed at least one other person to help me with my plans. It's sort of hard to advertise that you need help breaking into a top security bank vault, so I was having a bit of trouble with things. I was stressed out, so I headed to a local bar, where I found a con artist bragging about his apparently incredible skills at breaking into any type of lock, anywhere, any time, completely undetected. He was already completely drunk, so it was easy to convince him to help. Of course, I had to employ a little con of my own for it to work. All in all, in the end, we ended up engaged. I had him to help me break into the bank, and in return, I left him and pawned the ring for a bit extra. It's in my line of work to carry out cons like that, and I'd done so before then, even. She's just angry that it was on her friend."

"He about drank himself to death after you left," said Katherine angrily. "You don't even give a damn? He ended up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning… under an assumed name, no less, but that's not the bloody point – when he got out, Don and Al and I had to go in shifts watching the poor bastard, had to destroy any and all alcohol that he could get to – which was hell on _all_ of us – until he was all right. You're lucky he didn't succeed in killing himself, or you'd have been dead inside of a week. Whether it would have been me or a hired gun, you'd have been murdered, you _stupid_ whore." She finally managed to jerk her arms out of Light and Matsuda's grips while their guard was down, but rather than attack Wedy as she _so_ wanted to do, she turned and walked towards the stairs up to her flat.

"What did you expect me to do?" asked Wedy incredulously. "I didn't love _him_."

"Oh, I don't know, tell him the truth rather than call the next day and leave a bloody message on the answering machine?" said Katherine, looking back over her shoulder. "You didn't apologize for lying to him, for one."

"And I'm definitely the most honest person _I_ know," she said sarcastically, crossing her arms. "And definitely sympathetic. I leave a full apology note every time I take something from someone."

"No bloody need for all that," said Katherine, glaring again. "And also, he'd probably have helped you break in without you lying. Trust me, even a few years ago, all _four_ of us had more money than you've probably ever dreamed of having, or at least enough fake credit cards to account for nearly infinite amounts of money. Even back then, the three of them were just con artists as a hobby. It wasn't a profession anymore, they'd made it well enough to retire. They just liked screwing naive people out of money."

"You know, if your friend was such a good con artist, then why didn't he know he was being conned?"

"He was bloody _drunk_, you said it yourself!"

"And for the rest of the time?"

"He was trying to prove me wrong about you being a heartless bitch. I guess I was right after all!" Katherine said in a sarcastically cheerful manner, then turned and continued up the stairs.

Just thinking about his situation, L could tell he was in some sort of trouble. Now, he had not only placed her in the same living quarters as someone she considered to be the most annoying being on the face of the Earth, but he had also hired who was apparently her archenemy to work with the investigation team in place of her friends. True enough it was that he had done so before she had tried to talk him into getting her own spies to work for the team, but there was no doubt she would still be angry with him. He had been on the receiving end of her form of vengeance before, and he didn't particularly want to be there again.

* * *

The time that Katherine spent in the investigation room that day (only after Wedy had left the room) was mostly spent glaring at the computer screen and typing nearly hard enough to break her keyboard in half. She didn't direct her glowering in anyone's general direction. She didn't blame L, since he really had no way of knowing that she knew Wedy. She couldn't find any possible way to blame Light, though she wished she could have. Punching something seemed to be quite an appealing idea at the moment, and considering the only person in the room at that moment that deserved to be hit was him and he hadn't done anything to her, she would have to wait to hurt someone.

The only two in the room with her were Light and L. Light seemed close to falling asleep at his computer as it was. Everyone else had already headed off to catch a bit of sleep a couple of hours ago, as it was midnight now (hence why Wedy was gone, meaning that Katherine would probably become nocturnal for a while). However, considering Light was attached to an insomniac, he was having a few issues with the idea of sleeping. He was also complaining about his lack of sleep at that moment.

"Ryuzaki," he said, glaring over at the insomniac from his computer, "if you would just undo the handcuffs and put our floor on the monitors –"

"Impossible, Light-kun," L said, still wide awake and typing a mile a minute on his own computer. "Even when I had you under surveillance in your own room, you acted completely normal and criminals still continued to die. There is every chance you could still be Kira even if you appear to act normally."

"Even if I _was_ Kira _then_, it's safe to say I didn't kill anyone while I was at home, or you would have obviously seen it. Even if I was Kira _now_, I wouldn't kill anyone if I knew I was being supervised. That would be idiotic."

"Shut _up_," Katherine snapped in an ill-tempered manner, causing both L and Light to look at her oddly. She looked back now, looking more exasperated than angry. "Light, just sleep on the damn couch. There _are_ two of them. If I have to listen to you two argue about something as pointless as sleeping arrangements for even five more _seconds_, your heads are going to get knocked together."

"Uh – yeah," said Light carefully – despite his unwillingness to cooperate with L, he wasn't about to cross her with the knowledge that she had come close to murdering someone earlier that same day. "That would work, the sofas are comfortable enough…"

"And I suppose I could work on my laptop," said L, also at least slightly unnerved at the thought of crossing her while she was still at least remotely agitated.

Katherine breathed a sigh of relief when they both headed over to the couches. Within minutes, she was sure she heard at least a small bit of snoring, indicating her number one source of annoyance at that moment was out like a light (and she laughed quietly at herself the unintended pun within her strange train of thought). It was at around that time that she heard the rattling of a chain, then footsteps. Katherine raised her eyebrows when L sat back down at his desktop computer.

"Chain him to the couch leg?"

"For now," he said. "I didn't have enough information on my laptop to work with it."

"Oh," said Katherine with a sigh. "And here I was thinking you just missed me."

"Hmm?"

He looked over just as Katherine had slid her computer chair over by his. "Regarding the situation with Wedy," she said quietly, in case Light wasn't really asleep (and L looked slightly perplexed at the sudden change of subjects), "I'll put up with her on the condition that I can give Pat and Don inside information on the Kira case."

"That…" said L slowly, "won't be acceptable."

"… I see."

"If it were solely up to me, I would agree with it," he said. "It wouldn't be particularly intelligent of me, at the least, to believe you or anyone working with you is Kira at this point. However, the overall attitudes of the investigation team remain the same. Now that Light-kun isn't Kira, he strongly believes that you are. Yagami will agree with any inference his son makes. Mogi could believe it, but he doesn't say enough to give me any insight into what his opinions on the case are. It seems the only person aside from me and possibly Mogi that doesn't believe you are the current key suspect is Matsuda, and he's not particularly intelligent anyway."

"And because I'm being incriminated by them, anyone I'm working with could be the second Kira, meaning that Pat and Don aren't being trusted now either, so without consulting the rest of the team – who would be sure to vote against me – I can't give them any information."

"Correct."

Katherine nodded. "Then I might not be around for much longer." L widened his eyes for a moment involuntarily in surprise. "Well, you can't really expect me to work with her, can you?"

"Then don't work with her," said L. "You don't need to cooperate with her if you get along with everyone else on the team."

"I also don't get along well with Light. With the way his father sticks up for him, he and I are bound to start hating each other as well. Mattie thinks Yagami-san can do no wrong, and will therefore turn over to their side eventually. Then Mogi barely says a word and I don't trust any con artists aside from Pat and Don, so that puts Aiber out. And don't _even_ get me started on Misa. You're the only person I get along with on the team now."

His eyes narrowed as he seemed to take a moment to think about this. "You're being more cynical than usual," he observed. "Why?"

Katherine shrugged and looked down at her knees. "Coupling the sudden arrival of Wedy with the fact that Kira's plan has officially advanced a step further and there's not much of anything we can do about it, then also partially that I have no one left to argue over stupid things with to relieve stress, I'm just a bit pissed. No big deal."

"It is quite a 'big deal,'" said L, sounding exasperated. "There are only two people on this investigation team who know exactly what's going on with the Kira case. You're one of them. That means that depression or anxiety aren't going to be acceptable, you need to be focused on pretending to do work on things you already know about, not murder plans for Wedy."

Katherine raised her eyebrows. "Is that an order?" she asked indignantly. "You decide you're not even going to consult me on who you're hiring to help us, and then you try to order me not to _feel_? I know _you're_ an emotionless bastard, but that doesn't mean you're going to bloody turn _me_ into one!"

His eyes returned to their normal size again. "I see." Her blood was reaching a boiling point now. "I apologize for inviting Wedy to join the investigation without saying much beforehand. I do very much like you and I definitely didn't do it to purposely anger you. Even so, it would make little to no sense to the investigation team for me to get rid of her now. They might suspect something if I did, which they would use as reason as to why you were never confined, causing them to lose faith in my investigating abilities. I'm not keeping her because I want to at this point. She is good assistance to the investigation, but I can't say I'm happy that I brought in someone that you hold such a strong loathing towards."

Though still glaring in the opposite direction, Katherine spoke. "I suppose I'm sorry as well, then. You do sort of have the right to order me, as you're in charge of the investigation and I'm just working for you. And I didn't mean to call you emotionless. Or a bastard. It just kind of slipped out."

"Nothing happens by accident," said L tonelessly, keeping focused on his computer.

"I'm going to hit you if you start quoting nineteenth century philosophers, I'm going to start throwing things at you," she said, though mildly amused. "I didn't _say_ it was an accident, I just said it slipped out. You do act like you don't believe in human emotions half the time, so it wasn't a lie."

"It's better for my work as a detective –"

"I know, you don't have to make up any excuses for me, I understand. I'm also willing to bet it's because the only single person you ever used to see on a regular basis was Watari." He didn't reply. "Thought so."

Katherine slid her computer chair back over in front of her computer and stood up to instead walk over. So she would be level with him, she bent a little (though not much, considering her height). He looked over at her at this, his eyes wide and as stoic as they could have possibly been at any given moment. She smiled at the heavy bags around them that were really beginning to resemble a thick coat of eyeliner.

"You're really looking extra tired tonight," she said quietly. "You should really get a bit of sleep. And I am sorry. I've just been in an overall bad mood lately. I think I need a bit of sleep, maybe I'll be better tomorrow. I'll try to be a bit more on the stoic side around Wedy, as I know it's not your fault. Good night."

She kissed his lips gently for a moment before pulling away and heading for the stairs. He raised an eyebrow after her. Women were just too damn confusing, he concluded as he turned back to his computer. Too many mood swings.

* * *

_And that's that! The question is, will Katherine and Wedy learn to get along before one of them turns up dead, or missing a tongue for that matter?_

_And further more, will Don or Pat discover Wedy is in Japan?_

_Will poor L ever understand the oposite sex?_

_Will Light wake up to find himself chained to the furniture and throw a bitchfit?_

_Who knows? Certainly not me. Well, I know the answers to the first two. The other two, however, shall remain a mystery, either forever or until next time._

_I'm also working on **Sketch** and **Mellow Out** at the moment, so expect updates on those soon as well._


	34. Chapter 33: Mattie's Mistake

_This one's based on one of my two favorite chapters in the entire series, as Matsuda and L are tied as two of my favorite characters and it was the first time in the series Matsuda got any actual recognition._

_And the first scene here is just for all of my awesome commenters._

_And replies:_

_ActionFry: Maybe not a catfight, but there probably will be one or two kicks or punches thrown at some point. Not quite in this chapter, though._

_Volital: Haha, the "I see" bit is going to stay through right to the very end. And, as I said to ActionFry, Wedy may get kicked at some point in time._

_Baytail: Yep, it probably will._

_White Alchemist Taya: I also doubt it, but it was in the manga and it seemed like a good closing line for the chapter, so I wanted to keep it. And he might find out, he might not. Either way, the Wedy-Kat issue is going to be important down to the end._

_Jillian Jiggs: I'm glad you liked it :) And yeah, L probably won't ever understand women. He doesn't understand most humans in general as is, except probably serial killers. I'm always happy to have my stories serve as a distraction to exam studying :D As it is, I should be working on typing an essay, but I'm doing this instead. Hoorah for procrastination! XD_

_Marisol Akyri: Well, even if he doesn't, he's still the greatest insomniac ever, lol. _

_Eliza Morra: Thank you :) I don't know if it's really one of the best, but still, many thanks. And I'll still keep trying to make it better, anyway :D_

_Madeline Cullen: Thanks!_

_All righto, then. Disclaimer: Same as always. See any previous chapters to find it._

_**Warnings**: Minor profanities, minor bitch fits, bloody noses, bruises, top of the line bakery research, annoyed Light, amused L, mucho Matsuda, Imagay jokes, Misa annoyingness, and so on._

_**Quick-sum**: L finds a very effective way to annoy Light, and to apparently wake up the investigation room's upstairs neighbors. Matsuda (unintentionally) finds a very effective way to annoy L, and to apparantly cause his life to flash before his eyes._

* * *

Light was lucky to have been the first to wake up out of the rest of the investigation team (L excluded, as he never slept anyway). Otherwise, someone else would have found him chained to a sofa. He didn't realize it immediately when he woke up. He sat up, stretched as much as the chain connecting him to L would allow him, and looked around. L was already working, or had been working all night, one or the other. Neither would have come as much of a surprise to Light. But then, what did come as a surprise was that the handcuffs were long enough to reach from the couch to the computers. After rubbing his eyes a few times and looking back towards the computers, he noticed something a bit strange.

The handcuffs weren't attached to L's wrist.

Thinking this to be a bit odd, Light stood from the couch and lifted his arm – and there were the handcuffs. The most obvious solution was to follow the chain, and upon doing so, he found that –

"Ryuzaki," he said slowly.

"Yes, Light-kun?" L said, not looking away from his computer.

"Is there a reason I'm chained to the sofa?"

"Yes, and a very valid one at that," said L. "I found that I didn't have enough information on my laptop to work on the Kira case with just it, so I needed to find some way back to these computers. So, I unhooked my handcuff and hooked it back to the leg of the sofa so I could work where I do have enough information on the Kira case to get anything productive done."

Light rolled his eyes at the detective and decided to get _himself_ unstuck, since L seemed to be making no move to do so himself. However, he found himself unable to lift the corner of the sofa even a little. It was small and looked light enough, but it apparently wasn't. Scratching the back of his head in a mildly bemused manner, he looked back and forth between the couch and L.

"And… why isn't the couch lifting?"

"That would be because I think ahead, Light-kun." Light raised his eyebrows, but the insomniac was at least kind enough to elaborate. "You see, I figured that in the event that I was required to be somewhere without someone chained to my wrist," he said, turning his chair around, "then I would need to make sure that you wouldn't leave headquarters. Therefore, most of the furniture here is welded to the floor."

Light's eyes narrowed as L turned back around, in what L considered a rather Kira-like manner. Indeed, it was exactly as he had looked durring his first few days of confinement, which would have been enough confirmation for L even if he hadn't known Light was Kira in the first place.

"Ryuzaki."

"Yes?"

"Would you _mind_ unlocking me from the sofa?"

"I suppose I could," said L slowly. He really had enjoyed not being chained to someone, he had to admit, but Light was likely to throw an all out tantrum if he didn't unchain him from the furniture. It was too early for him to even consider wanting to listen to that.

"Then why don't you?" asked Light, sounding as though he was growing impatient.

"Well," said L, "I believe I've almost made a breakthrough. Would you mind waiting a few minutes?"

"Yes I would."

"Oh. Then I'm quite sorry."

Light glared at the detective, who still showed no signs of standing, before choosing to sit back down on the couch himself and glare at the wall instead. he wasn't sure what type of a breakthrough L thought he had made, but it better have been a good one. L arrived at the couch to unlock him from it around five minutes later.

"Anything?"

"Regarding my breakthrough? Yes. There are five highly esteemed bakeries within walking distance of the investigation building."

The next story up in the building, Katherine and Misa were both awakened by angered yelling, garbled by the soundproofed walls that Light had somehow managed to penetrate. This signaled Misa that her love was in trouble. It signaled Katherine that L had probably just done something to get himself punched again. It was around eight in the morning, so she figured that was a decent time to get up, anyway. When she finished getting dressed and headed out into the living room, she found Misa waiting for her at the door leading down into the investigation room.

"Kat-chan!! Open the door for Misa please!!"

"Did you hear it, too?"

"Yes, Misa thinks the pervert tried to hurt Light!" she whined.

"Probably did, you should get him for that," said Katherine, who was quite sure the result would be amusing if Misa agreed. Katherine used her keycard to unlock the door, and Misa was out it like a blond flash. Katherine hurried down at a quick pace as well so she wouldn't miss anything interesting. She stopped at the foot of the stairs to see Misa telling off L, who was sitting at a computer with a bruise developing on his right cheek. Light's nose was bleeding. Even so, the expressions on their faces differed greatly. L almost looked triumphant, whereas Light just looked annoyed. Katherine took her seat at her regular computer after a moment and looked between the two.

"So," she said when Misa had finally calmed down and decided to go see if she could do anything to help her 'Knight', "what happened, since no one has had the time to explain yet?"

"_I_ woke up chained to the couch, which is apparently welded to the floor. He took five minutes to unlock the handcuff, as he said he may have found a 'breakthrough.' And, it turned out, his _breakthrough_ was that there are apparently five bakeries within walking distance of –"

"Seven, actually," said L, "but only five are highly esteemed."

"See?"

"So basically," said Katherine, "you had a bitch fit about being chained to the couch," she said, pointing at Light, "and you decided to lengthen his suffering by looking up shops that sell cake."

"I wasn't aware there was suffering involved."

"I didn't have a 'bitch fit…'"

"Either way, you woke me up, so it was still stupid. And yes you did," she added to Light, before turning her computer on.

"Why are you–?"

"What's your family name backwards again, Light?"

"Why the _hell_ do you keep pointing that out?"

"Because it's true."

"Kat-chan needs to _stop_ calling Misa's boyfriend gay!" said Misa in slight annoyance.

"Sorry, Misa. Won't happen again."

"Good! It's really mean. Oh!" Katherine looked over at the blond as she proved how short her attention span was yet again. "Can Kat-chan let Misa back into her room with the key? Misa-Misa has a movie shoot today!"

"Oh, that's right," said Katherine. "I think I'll be going along as well, I don't feel like being confined to the investigation room today."

Though she didn't say it, Katherine was sure that L and Light both knew that she probably wanted to add on something along the lines of "Especially not if that bitch Wedy's going to be here," just by the way they both immediately focused on the computers in front of them after she spoke. Katherine stood up. "All right, then, let's go. Could one of you alert Mattie to be ready to leave by noon?"

Without waiting for an answer, Katherine headed up the stairs as Misa said goodbye to Light and told L not to touch her boyfriend while she was gone. She had unlocked the door by the time Misa got there, and Misa rushed passed her to go to their shared bathroom. Katherine hurried to her room and locked the door behind her so she wouldn't have to listen to Misa talking about her choice in disguises.

* * *

It was midday when Misa had started complaining to the director of her movie about keeping any love scenes rated PG since she had a boyfriend. Katherine was standing by with Matsuda when the director, in his annoyance at lack of compromise on Misa's behalf, told the entire cast to break for two hours. Misa took a seat with an annoyed look on her face, really showing her actress side just from the look on her face – if she couldn't have it her way, then no one else was going to be happy, either; particularly not Katherine, who she had just called over as a person to complain to.

Matsuda was focused on other things. It seemed the entire task force thought everyone else was more useful to the Kira case than he was lately. Kira was almost definitely a part of Yotsuba. Even L had to be sure of that at this point, it was obvious that the deaths were all surrounding that company. The main offices were in Tokyo, not even very far from the movie set they were on. The deaths were all occurring on the weekends, late Friday to mid Saturday. Could that mean… was there possibly some sort of clue as to what was going on at the Yotsuba Tokyo main office? It was Friday, so there might have been. If he could find something, it should prove to everyone else that he isn't as much of a hindrance as they all thought he was.

"Whew!" Misa said exasperatedly to Katherine. "That director pisses me off!"

"Misa-Misa," said Matsuda, handing her a coffee she had asked for a minute ago, "today's shoot runs pretty late, right?"

"Yeah," she said, "it's not over until after ten."

"I might kill myself before then…" Katherine grumbled, sitting on the ground next to Misa's chair and glaring at the numerous pairs of legs that passed by her.

"Good," said Matsuda, turning. "I'll be back then."

He had spotted a sign on one building close by that clearly read "Yotsuba." He ignored Misa's yelling after him (_"What?! Where are you going??"_) as he walked toward the exit off of the set. Katherine would be able to keep a watch on her for the next few hours. She had only gone to the set to avoid Wedy, but she and Misa were technically friends, so she probably wouldn't be too angry with the arrangement. He had more important things to be doing.

Katherine gaped at the end of the set. If that ass planned to leave her there alone with the devil's daughter until ten o'clock at night so Misa could complain at her, she would _kill him_. Just her statement of, "Jeez, what's with everyone today?" was more than enough to make Katherine want to strangle both Matsuda and Misa. Then again, she supposed Misa was the lesser of two evils. She could either be faced with the devil's daughter here on the movie set or the embodiment of Satan back at headquarters. She preferred to spend as much time away from Wedy as possible. She had promised L she would be civil with the bitch, and the only way she was to do so was to stay as far away from Wedy as possible at any time she got the chance to. But still – Matsuda could have given some insight as to where he was going.

But then – _then_, she saw it. On the skyline of Tokyo, standing as tall as Big Ben in London, as bold as Lady Liberty in New York City, were yellow characters on the side of a skyscraper that read as clear as day, "Yotsuba Company." Was that it? If he was going there, she wouldn't have to kill him. He was destined to be murdered by Kira. Katherine quickly reached into her pocket for her cell phone and dialed his number once she got it out and open and – voicemail. Bloody _voicemail_. If she didn't love that phone so much, she'd have thrown it on the ground and stomped it into the sidewalk. Misa watched her curiously as she shoved it back into her pocket.

"Is Kat-chan all right?"

"Kat-chan's just brilliant," Katherine said venomously, and Misa took it as a clue to stop asking questions.

Matsuda had just arrived at the entrance to Yotsuba after sneaking past security and hurrying inside. He had found himself in a hallway after entering through a back door and looking around. As he looked carefully around a corner into the adjacent one, he had to quickly duck back behind – around ten people were getting on an elevator. He was debating with himself over whether or not he should just try to blend in with them and go back – but then it would have been pointless to have come in the first place. He needed to hide out, maybe until after everyone left, and look over the building to see if he could find anything. But then, he would be arrested for trespassing if he was found. Maybe he should just leave…?

It was too late, as the elevator was already leaving. He waited for a few minutes, then heard more voices. He listened closely and peeked around the corner to see one of them pressing the up button for the elevator.

"Man," said one of the men, "this _again_ today…."

"But it's the weekend," said the other. "They take a while, but at least the secret meetings aren't on Mondays. It'd be a lot harder to get up to come to work if they were, you know?"

"Yeah, that's true," said the other.

Matsuda heard the elevator doors open, then shut. He rushed out to watch the numbers light up red next to it. He followed them from one to nineteen, where they stopped. So he needed to be on the nineteenth floor for this "secret meeting," then…. He started to press the up button to summon the elevator, but he stopped himself – he might have been found if he used the elevator. He instead decided to look for a stairwell. He found it and hurried upstairs to the nineteenth floor. It took him a while, but when he turned a corner, he spotted two double doors at the end of a hall. That _had_ to be it, right? He approached cautiously so as not to be heard, and listened through the door. It was hard to hear anything, but he did hear garbled voices. He couldn't understand a word they were saying, but he heard them well enough. It was a secret meeting, one with just a few people, from what he could hear. So maybe – just _maybe_ – this was it….

It was an hour before he heard a word that struck him as even a little odd: _kill_. He definitely heard it, but he didn't hear what context it was used in, so maybe it wasn't anything – _Kira_! He knew heard Kira – and there it was again! And then…

"… the one to be killed by Kira will be…"

That was it. He, Matsuda, who everyone thought to be _so_ useless, had just found the truth. Kira was working with Yotsuba, there was no doubting it, he had just heard it himself. He also knew they held these meetings every Friday. All he had to do would be to get that information back to L, L could have Wedy sneak in and install cameras into their meeting room, and they would be able to identify everyone in the meeting. It would be perfect! He had found –

His eyes widened as he heard footsteps close to the door – then it opened. Had they heard him? Regardless, he had to do something – he still had the belt buckle Watari had given everyone on the team in the beginning, the one that was supposed to send a distress signal to Watari's phone. He pressed the button quickly before the door opened entirely.

* * *

"In order to escape notice –"

"_Ryuzaki_."

Everyone in the investigation looked at L's computer, where the voice had issued from quite suddenly as L was in the middle of reviewing the plan to infiltrate Yotsuba. "What is it, Watari?"

"_Matsuda has sent out a distress signal from his belt._"

L paused for a moment. That obviously couldn't mean anything good. Had it been a good idea to assign Matsuda to be Misa's manager? Perhaps he had just pressed it by accident walking into a door. That definitely seemed like a Matsuda-like situation. There was hope that it wasn't anything serious, as it _was_ Matsuda. This being Matsuda, it would either be something trivial… or absolutely horrible.

"From where?"

"_Well…_" Watari said slowly, "_it appears to be coming from inside the Yotsuba Tokyo Main Office_."

L glared at his computer. It was far from being his computer's fault that Matsuda was mentally challenged, but what else was there to glare at? Definitely not Matsuda. Now, even if he _had_ just walked into a door, it was inside the Yotsuba building, which meant he already had his nose somewhere it didn't belong. This situation could be nothing short of disasterous. The easiest solution would just be to leave him, but there was every possibility that the rest of the investigation team might have something to say about that, particularly Katherine. With as much as he seemed to be unintentionally crossing her lately, it probably wouldn't be the best idea to do something he _knew_ would only anger her further. He would have to think of something to do to save Matsuda. He pulled at a piece of his hair in frustration before turning his chair around.

"What's Matsuda doing there?!" Yagami said. "If he got caught…"

"The distress signal probably means he _did_ get caught," Light said.

"He'll probably be killed if that's true," said Aiber.

"Please forget everything I've said up to now," said L. There was no other way. He'd have to come up with some sort of amazing and miraculous plan to save the dunce's life. "We need to rethink our strategy." Then, under his breath, he added, "Matsuda, you _idiot_…"

* * *

_Now, mind you, this chapter in the manga/episode in the anime made me feel bad for Matsuda, but he was in it so much that it was just awesome._

_Now, questiomonenies:_

_Shall Matsuda survive another of his blunders? You should know the answer to that. If you don't, reread/rewatch anime immediately or there shall be spoilers._

_Will Katherine ever stop calling Light gay?_

_Will Katherine kill Matsuda for leaving her alone with Misa if he survives his Yotsuba escapades?_

_Will L ever find a way to stop Matsuda from giving him headaches that doesn't involve our dear dunce's death?_

_Find out next time... or the time after... or the time after the time after... or – okay, you get the point! – in **The King's Note**!_


	35. Chapter 34: Inexplicable Intoxication

_And, this one's based on my other favorite chapter :)_

_I love writing for Matsuda. It comes pretty naturally to me, considering I'm nearly that goofy in real life XD_

_Now then, replyness:_

_Jillian Jiggs: Nah, Matsuda's too happy-go-lucky to kill himself. It just drives him to want to prove himself which... does end in near-death situations, okay, I suppose that qualifies as well. Poor Matsuda :( And the Imagay joke will live on forever :)_

_ActionFry: I did enjoy writing that bit :D_

_Hells Twilight: Thank you :) And no, L's not going to die. It explains why in earlier chapters, which you'll want to check out if you haven't already. In short, Katherine manages to get his name out of him and uses her Death Note to prevent him from being killed by any other. The reason for the name of the story is because she picked up the Shinigami King's notebook, which has powers that the others don't have, such as saving lives._

_candourly-unspoken: Thank you :) She definitely won't stop calling him gay, that would just ruin half of my fun in writing this story :P_

_Madeline Cullen: Inspiration? Sweetness, I didn't know my stories served to inspite XD Thank you :)_

_Twitch-Lawliet: Thank you much, I'm quite glad it didn't. And I still am having a busy time, I'm just sleeping a lot less now that I'm writing again, haha._

_**Disclaimer**: Same as always_

_**Warnings**: Too lazy._

_**Quick-Sum**: Matsuda does some quick thinking and the investigation team has trouble believing it, Hitori and Shimura definitely think this Taro Matsui guy's little sister is freaking psycho, and Katherine ponders over whether or not Matsuda found her secret bottle of Whiskey in the bathroom._

* * *

"What are you doing here?!"

Matsuda, who had fallen backwards in surprise at the door opening, could now think only one thought: _Oh my __God__, I'm so dead!_ It was only natural, considering everything he had just heard, what they probably thought he had heard, and that Kira was probably one of the people in the meeting room to which the doors had just opened. There was no doubt he _would_ be killed if he didn't do some _really_ fast thinking. But it came to him that fast, like someone had snapped their fingers or flicked on a light switch.

Maybe all that time he had spent listening to L and his on the spot plans had finally paid off – it seemed full proof enough for now.

Matsuda managed to wrench his identification out of his pocket, but not anything that would have his real name placed upon it, obviously. He held up a bussiness card. "I finally found someone I can talk to – I'm an agent from the Yoshida Agency, my name is Taro Matsui. I'm here to introduce this highly recommended talent –" and here he held up a picture of Misa, "the star of the film _Sweet Eighteen_ coming this spring, the icon of fashion magazines all over and growing in popularity every day, Misa Amane! Would you be interested in featuring her in your television ads?"

Now unable to think anything except the word _Please_ over and over and over again at insanely fast repeated intervals, he struggled to keep a straight face. One of the men that had just stood up from the rounded table pointed at him and said quite loudly, "Hey, he might have overheard–!"

Another held up a hand to silence him. "Why are you shouting? There wasn't anything to be overheard."

"That's right," said a third, quite calmly. The man that had yelled lowered his arm back to his side. The third that had spoken continued, "Hatori, Shimura, please take this gentleman to the other room and see what he has to offer Yotsuba."

"Uh– yes, I see. Of course," said the man who had opened the door. Matsuda managed to stand up to follow the two men. This was better than sitting on the floor like an idiot. The others would probably be sitting back at the meeting deciding how to kill him, but if Kira didn't have the eyes like the second Kira had, then he should be all right. He had only showed them a fake name, and he had only _told_ them a fake name. He might still be safe if L was willing to help him….

It was nearing ten o'clock now. Katherine was within minutes of strangling Misa, maybe beating her within an inch of her life with a tree limb. Matsuda wasn't back, which could only mean trouble. No one on the investigation team had attempted to call, which could only mean that they didn't have any idea of the situation at hand. It was bad. Matsuda was definitely trapped within the Yotsuba offices, there seemed to be almost no doubt about it at that point.

It was certain that if he lived through this, he was going to get slapped, both for doing something as stupid as going to Yotsuba alone and for doing something as utterly cruel as leaving her alone with _Misa_!

Katherine's cell phone finally rang at 9:49 at night. It was already dark out, with no light but the bright ones from the camera pointed away from her and the slight glow of the street lights lining the sidewalks. She looked at the front of her cell phone to see the number, and then flipped her phone open.

"Your girlfriend's still shooting," she said. "What do you want?"

"Do you know where Matsuda-san is, then?"

"I have _no_ early idea," she told Light. "He took off quite a while ago, didn't say where to, but as I can see the sign for the Yotsuba building from the set, I'm going to assume he did something stupid."

"He sent out a distress signal from inside," said Light. "He might have been caught."

"And I'm in charge of…?"

"Calling him. L's already done the same thing. He managed to find out that he has been caught. We don't know anything about the circumstances yet, though. Misa didn't answer her phone, so I'm assuming she's still shooting the movie. So call him now, find out what's going on without revealing anything about your identity or his identity, or about Kira, and get back to the investigation team on it."

"Right."

Katherine hung up her phone and opened it back up. While she wasn't one to take orders from the Nancy-boy, she knew they were actually coming from L and that it probably would be a smart thing to listen to him if he was attempting to come up with a plan to save Matsuda from a horrible, possibly painful, and most definitely humiliating fate. So, after dialing that number, she held the phone to her ear.

Not far away, Matsuda's phone rang a second time. He checked the caller ID on it. Thinking quickly, he said to Hatori and Shimura, "My sister, she was at the shoot with Misa. Should I tell her to bring Misa here immediately, or would you rather take time to think about bringing her in for advertising?"

Hatori and Shimura looked at each other – it was an odd situation, indeed. Matsuda knew that they weren't sure if he had heard anything or not. They probably suspected him, but he was playing his cards right. Then, on the other hand, Matsuda knew for a fact that they were working with Kira. That made the atmosphere at least _slightly_ tense.

"Go ahead," said Hatori.

Matsuda flipped open the phone and held it away from his ear, as he had durring his conversation with L, so the other two would be able to hear. Before he could even get out the word "Hello," he was already being nagged by an extremely angry investigator.

"Onii-chan!" he heard her half-yell – if the atmosphere had been off before, then it was maddeningly edgy now. "You left me _alone_ with _Misa Amane_, I'll kill you –"

"M – Mizuki –"

"Where the hell are you?"

"I'm at the Yotsuba company's main Tokyo offices, it's not that far from Misa's movie set."

"You were _supposed_ to be dropping me off at the movies when the shoot was over," she said impatiently. "What're you doing there?"

"I think I've almost gotten Misa a job advertising for Yotsuba," he said, "could you bring her here when the shoot's over?"

"Yeah, whatever," said Katherine, sounding extremely irritated. "I'll call you as soon as I've got an answer out of her."

"Thank y –"

But she had already hung up. Matsuda also shut his phone now. "I'm sure Misa will agree to come here," he said, though he was sure the looks he was getting were more on behalf of the idea of his apparently ill-tempered sister coming there with her.

Katherine was already calling Light back, and the shooting for that day was just ending. Misa was coming back over to where Katherine was, having had changed back into her regular clothes.

"Hello?"

"I called him," Katherine said to Light, "and he apparently came up with his own on the spot plan that seems to have worked out pretty well."

There was a momentary silence on the other line. Katherine wondered why until –

"Are you still talking about Matsuda?"

"Yes," she said impatiently. "Apparently, when he was caught, he told them that he was with the Yoshida Agency and that he was promoting Misa, who he was looking to get Yotsuba to use for their television advertisements. Pretty good plan, huh?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, "hold on."

She heard Light telling the rest of the team Matsuda's makeshift plan. After he finished speaking, there was again silence. A moment later, there was static on the other line, then L spoke: "Matsuda came up with a plan?"

"Don't make me kick you through the phone. Now, he says he wants me to bring Misa to the Yotsuba Offices for apparently a further interview. I think it would be a good idea. It's not a very solid plan, but I'm sure that it's… buildable."

A little while later, Katherine called Matsuda back, a fully established plan in mind. She had already told Misa about it, who was off changing clothes now so she could be ready to meet the Yotsuba members. Katherine only had to wait for a few rings.

"Hello?"

"The movie shoot's over," said Katherine miserably, "I'll be bringing Misa to the Yotsuba building…."

"Good," said Matsuda. "Ask for Hatori of the Advertisement Planning division and you'll both be let in."

"All right, be there soon. Misa's coming back from the dressing room now, anyway. I need to have my phone put away so it doesn't break if she tackles me this time. Bye."

Katherine shut her phone and put it in her pocket as Misa approached her. "Is Kat-chan _sure_ she doesn't want to change into something different?" she said hopefully. Katherine looked at Misa's outfit – the cropped tank top, the pleated short skirt, the leggings and the shoes – and flinched.

"Really, I'll be all right, Misa." Misa pouted and crossed her arms. "I'm fine like this."

"Misa's not going to Yotsuba with Kat-chan unless she changes into something nicer! Kat-chan looks like she's in middle school in _that_ uniform…"

"Y… you _have_ to go, there's a life on the line here!" said Katherine, waving her arms.

"Then Kat-chan should probably change clothes," said Misa, setting down her bag and digging in it.

"Why are you so obsessed with trying to get me to dress up?" asked Katherine miserably. "I'm _fine_ in casual wear. And in this," she added, looking down at her regular outfit for her disguise. "You're evil. I swear. You really are. I can't understand how the cross on your necklace hasn't burned your skin after all these years."

"Kat-chan, you're being silly," said Misa, pulling out some clothes and grabbing Katherine's arm. "Kat-chan can use Misa's dressing room."

Katherine pointed at the clothes in Misa's hand. "Isn't that what you're wearing?"

"I had an extra," she said happily. "Now we can be like sisters!" Katherine flinched at the thought of being even distantly related to Misa as she was pushed into the dressing room and handed the clothes. "Katherine shouldn't take too long, since Matsu-san is at Yotsuba and might get into trouble if we don't hurry," said Misa.

"Evil!" Katherine said loudly as Misa shut the door on Katherine, who looked down at the clothes and cursed whatever God had made her and Misa take the same size in nearly all their clothes.

They arrived at the Yotsuba building not much later, maybe around half and hour, with Misa practically skipping in her triumph at getting Katherine to change out of her "raggedy" clothes, and Katherine with her arms crossed and glaring at anyone who so much as glanced at either of them. When they arrived at the reception desk, Katherine decided it would probably be better for her to do the talking than it would Misa.

"Welcome to the Yotsuba Tokyo Main Office, how may I help you?" asked the woman behind the desk kindly.

"Mizuki Matsui, Misa Amane," said Katherine, pointing to herself and then Misa in turn. "We're supposed to be meeting with her manager, Taro Matsui, and Hatori of the Advertisement Planning division to discuss Yoshida and Yotsuba signing some sort of contract on her behalf." Misa waved happily when Katherine pointed at her.

"Yes, you will need to go to the nineteenth floor, where they will be waiting for you in the main meeting room."

"Thank you, ma'am," said Katherine, and Misa followed her to the elevator.

"Kat-chan's acting angry," said Misa, though she still sounded perfectly happy. "Is Kat-chan okay?"

"Kat-chan's just goody gumdrops," said Katherine in a false happy voice, which was apparently enough to convince Misa.

It was evident by the elevator that Yotsuba was fairly empty at this time of night on Friday evenings. When Katherine pressed the button to summon the elevator to the first floor, the doors opened there immediately, revealing no one to be waiting inside. Katherine and Misa got on, and Misa pressed the button for the nineteenth floor. Katherine stood with her back against the back wall of the elevator, keeping her arms crossed still, shooting glares at Misa every few seconds (though Misa was completely oblivious that she was on the business end of these constant death glares). The elevator opened again in what seemed like no time, and they found a set of double doors in no time. When they heard Matsuda's voice, still loudly promoting Misa, they knew that was where they needed to be. Misa hurried forward and knocked on the doors, and Katherine followed reluctantly. The doors opened to reveal a large meeting room, and Misa took the liberty of introducing herself while Katherine continued glaring, particularly at Matsuda.

This was all _his_ fault.

"I'm Misa-Misa!" she said happily to those seated at the table. "I won't strip all the way, but I can do lingerie or swimsuit ads! I'm here to do all I can!"

Katherine did her best to back into the corner of the room, right next to the door.

"Matsu," Misa said to Matsuda, while the eight at the table seemed to make mumbled comments to each other about the eloquent introduction on Misa's part, "the agency has already set up the special reception for Yotsuba!"

At least Misa had saved Katherine the trouble of talking. Matsuda looked confused, but Misa continued happily (and loudly) to the eight men at the table, "I'm inviting you gentlemen to my large flat, where the girls from the agency will be giving you a very warm reception!"

They all appeared shocked… but were at least for the idea.

"What! Fashion models from the agency?"

"… I'm going."

"M… me too."

"I suppose we probably should follow Matsui-san to discuss the arrangements in advertising further."

"T… that's right…"

* * *

Matsuda had slightly more important things to do than to worry about the reception for Yotsuba. It probably wasn't good that he really had no idea what to do, and he would have rather not died within the next… well, at all, really, even though it was bound to happen eventually – he didn't want to be _killed_ by Kira.

Or anyone else, just especially not by Kira.

So, he discretely headed into the bathroom in the apartment and locked the door behind him. L was obviously watching everything on the cameras, so Matsuda pulled out his cell phone and dialed the first number that came to mind. L answered almost immediately.

"Ryuzaki, are you watching?" Matsuda asked quietly, looking around until he spotted a camera.

"Yes."

"Those eight we brought in – they were holding a meeting, discussing who to kill using Kira. There's no doubt it's them."

"Are you sure? That's big news if it's true. But if you did hear the conversation," L continued, "then they obviously are out to find an opportune chance to kill you."

"I… I know," said Matsuda. "Is there any way at all for me to get out of it alive?"

"You're still alive, so there is a chance."

"Okay."

"What you need to do, is die before they can kill you."

"O – oh… I … see," he said, though he honestly didn't see. At all. Whatsoever.

"Listen carefully," said L. "There's a street on the west side of the building. There's a balcony overlooking it."

"Yeah…"

After a quick run over with the plans with L, Matsuda left the bathroom. Praying that what little acting skills he had wouldn't fail them now, he stumbled out of the door as he opened it. That was the first thing he needed to do: act like a drunken idiot. So, after exclaiming how tipsy he was loud enough for everyone to hear, he stumbled over towards the window doors that opened up to the balcony. He opened them, stating that he could use a little fresh air.

Katherine smelled a rat almost immediately. This wasn't right. Matsuda had been all right when he snuck off into the bathroom earlier, and unless he had discovered her hidden Jack Daniels under the sink, he should have been all right. This was part of L's plan. But what in the world _was_ L's plan at this point?

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please!" Everyone looked over at the call from the balcony. "Welcome to the Taro Matsui show!"

This was followed by general amused laughs, like what most drunken idiots at parties tended to receive when they were about to publically humiliate themselves. However, the amusement ceased to exist when he started climbing onto the edge of the balcony. What _was_ L planning? It seemed to be making less and less sense by the second.

"Hey! Idiot! Get down from there, you're gonna kill yourself!" one of the Yotsuba employees was yelling at him, which was followed by more yells of protest from everyone else.

"Heh, I'm all right, I do this all the time," he said, going into a handstand. He attempted to do a flip back around onto his feet, and – fell?

If this was L's plan, he was either losing his touch, looking for an excuse to kill his greatest annoyance, or had come up with some sort of strange plan that Katherine really didn't get. _Everyone_ was yelling now, Misa told the men from Yotsuba to clear out and that she and the rest of the girls would handle everything. She then sent them out, leaving her and Katherine alone to look down over the balcony. They both squinted at the ambulance and the workers carrying a body towards the vehicle on a stretcher. Katherine looked at Misa.

"Are you confused?"

Misa spent a moment longer looking, then she moved away from the balcony and pointed. "It's Light and Ryuzaki-san!" she said, pointing at the ambulance workers. Katherine squinted a bit more.

"I'll be damned. You're right. That still doesn't explain what just happened."

"Well, it was Ryuzaki-san behind it, and Ryuzaki-san seems pretty smart, right?"

"Yes."

"Then it was probably some kind of plan."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Misa, I'm not stupid, I gathered it was a plan. I'm just trying to figure out the details…"

She continued looking over the balcony for a few minutes before going back inside to help Misa clean up the mess.

And she concluded that she would rather stay at headquarters and suffer through the constant torment that was Wedy from now on if it meant not getting mixed up in these insanities.

* * *

_What happened to Matsuda after the fall?_

_And when the hell did L and Light get side jobs as ambulance workers?_

_Will Katherine check to make sure her bathroom stash of Jack Daniels is still in tact?_

_Who shall Misa-Misa have for a new manager?_

_Will Katherine really kill Matsuda for leaving her alone with Misa if he's still alive?_

_All this and more, in the next chapter (or the next or the next and ect ect so on and so forth) of **The King's Note**._


	36. Chapter 35: Management Malfunctions

_Replies, as usual:_

_Jillian Jiggs: Yep, definitely :D_

_erina destiny: Thank you very much :)_

_ani-sand: Thank you, and I plan to. Been thinking about the jealousy concept myself a bit._

_Sparanda: Thank you, was one of my favorite scenes as well XD And already replied in a PM with everything else (and I'll reply to the reply you sent me when I finish with this chapter, as my AIM is still being retarded)._

_nekosoulreaper: Well, he's not always dumb, he has smart moments occasionally XP_

_Marisol Akyri: Ah, can't really agree there, Matsuda's one of my favorite characters. He's like the comic relief when things get too overly tense in the investigation. But the L as an ambulence worker bit was just great :)_

_Madeline Cullen: Thanks :) And they do/will have friendly moments occasionally._

_Pretty awesome, another 7 comments on that chapter :)_

_I'm about beat right now. We had a tornado warning at my school today durring fifth period. I knew it wouldn't amount to anything interesting, but it was still a tad bit freaky, as the last in-school one I went through, the tornado blew the doors open on the school in the hallway my class was on. I was traumatized for life with that one, even if it wasn't big enough to do anything more than blow open the doors on the fifth grade hallway._

_I'm better now, just a little tired._

_**Disclaimer**: Same as always. No owns. Yeah._

_**Warnings**: Same as always, bit of swearing._

_**Quick-sum**: Confusion for L, new manager for Misa. Can't be bothered to type more. Read on._

* * *

L had actually allowed Light to leave the investigation room unaccompanied on the condition that he would be surveilled the entire night, following the untimely demise of Taro Matsui. L wasn't in mourning, as the death of an alias was nothing to mourn over anyway. He merely had more important matters to worry about than whether or not to unchain Light from his wrist. He had finished transferring all of the information on the Kira case (or as much as he needed to work) onto his laptop and had chosen to take a slightly more comfortable seat on the couch to work out what was going on. It had proved to be a hard task to balance the laptop on his knees, but he had managed well enough for a few minutes before –

"Hi!"

The sudden voice caused him to jump slightly – just enough to nearly drop his laptop. He caught it before it could fall and closed it, then set it on the coffee table. It wasn't really like any more information he didn't know could be found on the case at that moment. The person sitting next to him now, looking at least somewhat cheerful, might already know who Kira was. If she had seen a Shinigami in the investigation room standing behind someone, she would know…

"I didn't mean to scare you," said Katherine, laughing.

"It's fine. Did you see anything?"

She raised her eyebrows, but then seemed to comprehend. "No. No Shinigami, but," she said, seeing that L was starting to look disappointed, "there's every chance that the Shinigami could have been told to wait. If Light told Rem to on contract of Misa's safety, then Rem might have told Kira that someone on L's side can see Shinigami. Light found out I could see Ryuk and knew I had the Shinigami King's notebook when I conned him into believing I was on his side while he was still Kira, so he knew and could have instructed Rem to keep herself hidden."

"I suppose so. You're sure Light-kun sent Rem?"

"Positive," she said. "It was logical. Light kills the holder of the note while he's holding the note and it becomes his again. Now, who would he want for a Shinigami more if he's in direct contact with the main person hunting him: a loud one who'll give him up as Kira if he doesn't get his apples on time, or one who's willing to do anything to keep Misa alive, even if it means become subservient to a murderer? He definitely sent Rem. Then, there's Ryuk. Misa will end up with him, so if she's forgotten your real name after seeing it, she'll do the eyes deal again. Rem would protest it, Ryuk'd just go, 'eh, what the hell, just as long as I get my apples.' You're not quite as familiar with their personalities. As an overview, Rem's loyal to Misa. Ryuk's loyal to his apple supplier until they stop getting him apples, and he's not that loyal to start with."

L was chewing on his thumbnail now. "So everyone on the team is protected by the King's Note." Katherine nodded. "What would happen if that Shinigami – Rem – tried to kill one of us to save Misa?"

She thought for a moment. "In normal circumstances, the Shinigami would die for helping a human. But I'm not sure, because the Shinigami wouldn't be able to kill someone protected by the King's Note, Rem told me that herself. I'm not sure about that so much. But we're far enough along in the case for now, aren't we?" L looked at her with his head tilted a little, his brow furrowing. She laughed. "I just mean you should take a break, you're overworking yourself a bit much for something you already know everything about."

"Except who Kira is."

"Which will be easy enough to figure out with the information we have already." She moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder, causing him to give her another confused look. "Just calm down a little."

"If I don't work tonight," said L, "then the investigation team will wonder why I stayed up all night doing nothing."

"Tell them you were looking at porn or something."

"What?"

"What?"

"I'm not telling them that."

"Good, they probably wouldn't believe you anyway. Misa might, she still refers to you as 'the pervert' half the time. What's she going to do for a manager now, anyway?" asked Katherine, rolling her eyes up to look at L, who was no longer paying any attention to her unauthorized invasion of his personal bubble of space. She decided then to loop her arms around his neck, and she was quite happy to find he didn't protest this either.

"As Aiber is busy posing as Erald Coil to investigate L for Yotsuba, who contacted him thinking that's who he was, he isn't available. I don't believe Yagami-san is particularly fit for the job. Mogi-san isn't either, but it seems there isn't another option."

"Is too." L looked down at her questioningly. "_I_ know people – well, a person – who could do it."

"I can't bring in your spies right now. I don't doubt they're not Kira. I know they're not, in fact, but the task force doesn't –"

"Then just use Don, have a bug placed on him when he leaves headquarters. They would be forced to move in – meaning him and Pat, and I'm sure there's an extra floor available in this building – but it would work out."

"Wedy?"

"Er…" Katherine stopped. "Well, see… Pat _might_ be willing to… umm…" She sighed. "Can I just talk to him about it and see if he'll work for her? Pat wouldn't be allowed near Misa, obviously."

"And why is that?"

"You know how Misa is with Light? That's about how Pat is in regards to Misa. It's really scary."

It took a while, but Katherine managed to talk L into letting her talk to Pat and Don about coming to live in the building and working on the Kira case in close proximities with the rest of the team, on the condition that they would have to reenact the argument tomorrow so the team wouldn't suspect they were making arrangements behind everyone else's backs. Respectively, it took L twice that time to talk Katherine into not falling asleep on his shoulder due to the awkward situations that might ensue from it if the investigation team came in to work before she woke up. Katherine's response, which probably made L wonder if he had even won the debate or not, was more or less "Fine, then I won't fall asleep."

After a few minutes of silence, in which L had managed to balance his laptop again, she spoke again.

"I'm not invading your bubble, am I?"

L looked at Katherine blankly at this question. His… bubble? He really hadn't been aware that he even _had_ a bubble to begin with, so she probably wasn't invading it. On top of that, he wasn't particularly sure of _what_ this bubble was. It would probably be easiest to find out about it by asking her what it actually was rather than just remain confused about it, even if it was risking being laughed at by the (obviously half asleep) redhead.

"… Bubble?"

Katherine blinked a few times. "Your bubble," she said plainly. "Your personal space."

"Oh. Then yes, you are."

It had seemed simple enough in his mind before he said it, but he could tell by the look he received in return and the way she pulled suddenly away from him that she had taken it wrongly. "K – Katherine?" She looked at him from her side of the sofa, eyebrows raised. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said, "just removing myself from your bubble."

"I didn't mind – why?"

Katherine looked at him blankly now. Do to his lack of experience with other human beings, he probably could be excused. She still didn't get his reasoning on this one, though. Personal space was just that – personal, not to be shared with anyone, meaning that she obviously had no reason to be invading his, so what in the world was he talking about?

"But your 'bubble' is the barrier that no other people are allowed to enter," she said reasonably.

"I assumed so," he said, "and you were 'invading' mine, as you put it, but only because I didn't mind you doing so. You would have been told in the first place if I did mind it."

Though still mildly confused, she guessed this qualified as an invitation back over to him, which she wasn't going to debate. His shoulder seemed to make a good enough pillow, so she had no reason so complain. She again got herself comfortable by wrapping her arms around his neck and laying her head on his shoulder. This time, his arm came around her shoulders, slowly as though he was nervous to touch her. She smiled at this.

"Don't worry, you're always welcome to invade my bubble," she said cheerfully. His arm lay on her shoulders at this. She lifted her head a little to look at him, and so he would turn his head. "You're adorable," she said. After another few seconds of him looking confused, she gently kissed his lips for a moment. She then decided to continue, "But you were even more adorable in your ambulance worker costume, why'd you have to go take it off?"

L looked at her blankly for a moment, shook his head, and went back to his computer. Katherine smiled. She hadn't lost her touch at all – even half asleep, she could still confuse the detective to no end.

* * *

"Is this it…? It's not very…" Matsuda trailed off, looking at his obituary. Or, at least, Taro Matsui's obituary. Katherine read it over his shoulder.

"I believe 'detailed' is a good word. Leave me alone with Misa again and you might get a new and improved one."

"I said sorry!"

"Misa is something that sorry can't fix. Anyway," she added, "who should be her manager now? I hardly think anyone left here is very suited for the job, and you've already got Aiber and Wedy off doing other things," she said to L.

He spun around in his chair, thinking. Though he was still reluctant to agree to hire her spies when they were still "suspects" in the eyes of the investigation team, she was right that Mogi was hardly fit for such a job. Yagami definitely wasn't. If the investigation knew that he would have them bugged, then they would be likely to agree….

"Is there any chance," L said slowly, "that your spies are still at our disposal?"

"Does this mean they're cleared of–"

"Decidedly not," L said. "If the arrangement in mind were to work, it would be required that the one to take the spot of Amane-san's manager wear a bug when working as her manager."

"Ah. Well, you don't want Pat doing it. Come to think, you don't want him within ten feet of Misa. Trust me. Don can speak Japanese well enough for the job, just make sure he doesn't have any tequila at any point in time, we don't want to have to bail him out of jail in a cocktail dress." There were scattered sniggers around the room at this. "That's something I hope to never have to do ever again. The only demand they would make is that they be allowed to help with the investigation."

"Then they would have to be under surveillance," L replied. "As there is suspicion, allowing them to work on the case without living here under surveillance would be impossible."

"I agree fully," Katherine said, "and I'll have to discuss with them about it. I can bribe Pat here just by mentioning Misa. But," she added, very seriously, "do _not_ mention a word that Wedy comes in and out of here on a regular basis, and she will be to warn us when she is going to arrive."

There were mumbles of agreement at this – there was no doubt that everyone still remembered the first time Katherine and Wedy had been in the same room as them. That was the type of meeting that people generally held in their memories for a long time, though reluctantly. Even so, she could bribe Pat there with Misa, but a single mention of Wedy would probably send him to an airport to leave whatever country she happened to be in. He had long since gotten over his depression about her and had come to the conclusion that she was merely a coldhearted bitch that he never wanted to be within a thousand feet of ever again. Don didn't care one way or the other. When the whole ordeal had occurred, he had called Pat a pansy and told him to get over it, until Pat's little trip to the hospital with alcohol poisoning that could have "killed him if he had arrived a minute later" according to the doctor. That was Don, though – less than zero tact and less than zero tolerance for emotion. Considering how Pat tended to get melodramatic when he got even slightly tipsy, she wasn't sure how or why the two of them were such good friends.

After working out the arrangements with the rest of the team (and getting L to agree to let them have the address to the place), she got out her phone as she headed to the stairs to hers and Misa's flat. She dialed the number as she reached the first step, and Don picked up after a few rings.

"Oi," he said, not bothering with any formal greeting, "I just saw the death of Taro Matsui in the papers, what's goin' on?"

"Matsuda's alive, that was just a decoy death. He went and got himself mixed up in a bit of a sticky situation and had to fake his own death."

Don laughed. "Tell 'im to join the club."

Katherine laughed. "Yeah."

"No, really, we're starting a club," said Don. "Pat's legally dead in Ireland, Scotland, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and New Jersey."

"Yes, and – wait, New Jersey?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. You think you know a person…"

"I'm only legally dead in Scotland so far. Still not sure what happened there, but I think there was tequila involved and –"

"No need to elaborate further. How's your Japanese doing?"

"Quite good, considering I'm reading their newspapers. Why?"

"We find ourselves in need of a new manager for Misa."

"Misa?"

"Misa?" she heard a voice in the background yelp accordingly. "What?"

"Tell Pat to go take a bath in some ice water, might help him chill out."

"She says go take a bath in some ice water," she heard Don tell him.

"Fuck you!" she heard him yell.

"Anyway," she said casually, "we were hoping you would be willing to help out. We obviously can't have Pat doing it, considering how…"

"He's kind of obsessive over her?"

"Basically, yes. The only stipulation is that you would have to wear a bug at all times when acting as her manager."

"Could we work in the Kira case?"

"You'd have to move into the building. Which I can assure you is more luxurious than you're current quarters, wherever it may be, the flats are like single-floor mansions. Each floor is only one flat."

"Bloody hell."

"My point exactly."

"Let me talk to Pat about it. Oi, Pat!" she heard him yell away from the speaker in his phone. "Want to move out o' this dump?"

"Fuck yea!" came a reply. "Where to?"

"Apartment complex apparently owned by L."

"Are we working on the Kira case?"

"Are we?" Don asked Katherine.

"If you don't mind your rooms having surveillance in them."

"If we don't mind our rooms having surveillance in them."

"Not at all," Pat said, "and isn't Misa staying there?" he added, somewhat hopefully.

"Yes," Katherine said, "but I've already warned Ryuzaki of his Misa-worship tendencies, so he will probably only be seeing her through camera."

Don repeated the message to Pat, no doubt feeling like a messenger but not complaining yet.

"Okay," Pat said immediately in response.

"Is that all of the circumstances?"

"Er… let's see… yeah, basically seems so. Oh," she added in an undertone so no mics could pick up her voice. "Refrain from punching any suspects."

"Such as Kira himself?" Don said.

"Yes. He hits back. He and Ryuzaki 'ave already gotten into a fight or two. I imagine you'll both get along with everyone fairly well once Yagami-san gets over having to work with more criminals – two people Ryuzaki employed were a con artist and a burglar."

"Yagami seems all right for an old bloke. Not sure as Pat'll get on well with Aizawa from what I've seen of 'im–"

"He's gone now," Katherine said. "Left and went back to the police force at the threat of job loss."

"That stupid shi–"

"Because he has a family to support and couldn't afford to lose his job and his pay. He's not that bad, he just has this suspicion he won't give up that I'm Kira. It's only a slight annoyance. Nothing to worry about if he ever does come back. We just have to make sure Pat doesn't go all over-protective big-brother-type-figure on him if he does come back and accuse me of being Kira again. You might not get on so well with the burglar I mentioned."

"Why, who is it?"

"Don't repeat the name after I say it, and _don't_ tell Pat," she said, lowering her voice a bit more. "Wedy."

"Oh," he said, then quietly, "we'll just have to make sure he doesn't find out, then."

"Well, just as long as she alerts us when she's coming to headquarters, it should all be okay," said Katherine. "I believe L's planning on working that out."

Katherine got off the phone after giving the address to headquarters, as she was at the door for her apartment and didn't want to have Misa talking at her at the same time as both Don and Pat. She did inform Misa of the situation, who didn't seem overly opposed to it. That was good enough, even if it wasn't as though Misa had any say in it. She knew as well as anyone else that L (who she knew only as Ryuzaki, not as the world's greatest detective) was in charge of appointing her managers.

* * *

_Honestly, I couldn't bring myself to let Mogi be Misa's manager. He never did anything to deserve that._

_And Misa doesn't deserve to have a potential stalker as her manager, so that sort of puts Pat out of the job._

_I wanted to get my other two OCs involved more in the story line as I was fond enough of them to create life stories for them (see the OCs section of my profile for more details, explains how they met and everything), and what better way than to have one of them acting as Misa's manager to save Mogi the torture?_

_On another note, Mogi kind of reminds me of the Frankenstein monster. Not sure why, but I think it's the hair and the abnormally tall height._

_Now, for the inevitable lets-make-the-readers-wonder-what's-going-on sequence._

_Will Don be able to put up with being the midgit blond's manager?_

_Will Pat attempt to break into Misa's room to get her autograph?_

_Will Yagami-san be able to deal with two more criminals on the investigation team?_

_Will Don get near a bottle of tequila? (I honestly haven't decided myself yet, but it could be amusing, no?)_

_Will Mogi-san ever be able to get out a full sentence without being interrupted?_

_Will Pat find out about Wedy in the near or distant future?_

_Will Matsuda join the Legally Dead Club (which will be known as LDC) now that his alias is legally dead in Japan?_

_All this and much, much more within the next umpteen chapters of **The King's Note**! __Be excited._


	37. Chapter 36: Record

_Presenting, chapter number 37, staring none other than Pat and Don._

_No Katherine in this chapter, though, I thought they needed an entire one dedicated to themselves. This is sort of a bonus chapter. It didn't absolutely need to be included, but it was fun to write._

_But why give a bonus chapter? One reason:_

_**Because I can**. :)_

_Plus, two in one day is always nice, isn't it?_

_Replies:_

_Madeline Cullen: Thanks :)_

_Gerashaltnotkill: lol, thank you. But you have to be legally dead somewhere first :/_

_Marisol Akyri: Yep. That way, if I accidently mistype it as LCD, everyone gets a good laugh at my terrible typing skills when I'm tired, haha_

_Kairi the Strong: Actually, over fifty percent of those answers were quite accurate. And thanks :)_

_nekosoulreaper: Oh, they shall get in on the Imagay joke. Everyone probably would if it weren't for Yagami-san. And there's at least a 99.9 percent chance at there being tequila at some point XD _

_Jillian Jiggs: Perhaps L will be slipped a little more alcohol. Could be fun. A tequila incident will definitely occur, though, that's about guarenteed. I've just got to figure out where to put it._

_erina destiny: Thank you :) I mostly wanted to put them in more because I enjoy writing for them, so I'm glad everyone else was cool with the idea._

_Anywhozles..._

_**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything Death Note like or any of the famous people Don mentions durring the interrogation._

_**Warnings**: Excessive Misa worship, swearing, picking on Axl Rose (who I also don't own nor do I want to, to add to my disclaimer), and insults._

_**Quick-sum**: Added to list of Pat's top five break-ins: The Kira investigation headquarters. Added to list of people that L probably will not get along with at all: Pat._

* * *

They had followed the directions exactly that they had printed out from the wonderfully useful maps addition of Google. Even so, they thought that Google may have betrayed them at first. The building had to be at least twenty stories tall, probably more. What exactly was going on there? Pat was the first to realize that the building he and Don were standing in front of _was_ the investigation headquarters. It was twice as big as either of them had expected – what was the elusive L doing in such an utterly noticeable place? The idea was almost unfathomable.

"It's bloody huge," said Don, gazing up at the building. "Reckon you could really get in without being noticed?"

"Please!" Pat scoffed. "If I could break into the White House after a bottle of Jack, I think I could _probably_ make it in here sober."

"Remember who you're dealing with," said Don warningly as Pat took off for the built in parking lot. He went in to find Pat balancing on the edges of a few bricks in the wall and messing with some of the wires mounted to it that led to the entrance of the parking garage, tracing along them as though looking for something. That car sized door would only open with a code otherwise, judging by the box sitting in front of the door.

"When that door opens," said Pat, pointing to the currently locked door, "start the timer on your watch."

"What for?"

"I'm going for a record."

Don rolled his eyes, but prepared himself to press down the timer button. If there was one thing he had learned in his years living with the hacker/con artist/lock expert, it was that arguing with him was completely pointless. So, when the parking garage door slid open and Pat gave a triumphant whoop, he pressed down the button and followed him into the next room. Here was the parking garage, where at the other end was a door. As Don started towards it, a hand grabbed his shirt's collar from behind.

"Cameras!" said Pat in an impatient whisper. "Keep to the shadows until I figured out where the box is for the ones in here."

"Right…" said Don, choosing to stand by a rather expensive looking restored '51 Mercedes.

Next, he saw a pair of converses step on the hood of the car as their owners traced more wires along the wall.

"Watch it!"

"What?" he said, looking down. "Oh. Nice car. Heavy duty steel, feels like. Won't dent."

He continued walking along the rest of the cars (some of which probably would dent) until he found what he was looking for – a metal box on the wall. He pulled a screw driver out of his pocket, successfully making Don wonder what else he could possibly have in there, and went to work at prying the box open. He caught it before it could fall more than a couple centimeters off of the wall, and pulled it out carefully enough to see inside. He laughed.

"Nice trick," he said, more to himself, as he looked in the box. "The wire attached to the inside of the front would set off an alarm system if pulled, meaning it would have been set off it I'd dropped the box…" He put the screwdriver back in his pocket and got out a pocket knife, which he flipped open. "First need to disable the alarms…" He examined it for a moment, then cut two wires, one after the other. "Good. Now for the cameras." He went to work cutting all but the wire attaching the box back to the wall. He then put the box back up to the indentation it had been slightly concealed in and used the handle of his pocket knife to hammer around the edges a little bit until it fit back as properly as it could into its indentation.

He just barely managed to land on two feet when he jumped off of that car, and he swore quite loudly. "Bloody fuckin' box!"

"What?" asked Don, now heading for the door.

"Caught me damn hair…" he said, rubbing the side of his head and wincing as he glared up at the box. Even so, he got to the door first and began examining the locks.

"Then cut it," said Don, "you're not in the 80s anymore. You probably barely even remember them, you were only eight when they ended."

"Bugger off, I cut my bloody hair when I damn well feel like it."

"All right, Axl."

He gave Don a glare that easily would have made Satan himself shrink away in fear. "I don't wear braided bloody wigs, I don't bleach my hair, and I definitely do not resemble that queer weirdo."

"All right, then we'll stick to Patrick Star."

He pointed his screwdriver threateningly at Don. "I'm warning you –" he started slowly.

"You're wasting time," said Don, looking at the face of his watch. Pat almost instantly went back to examining the unlocking units for the door, which were on stands on either side of it.

"Right. This one analyzes fingerprints, this one does a retina scan," he said. He immediately took to prying off the front of the one on the left and ripping a few more wires.

"I really hope you don't piss off this L bloke with ruining all his security."

"What're you talking about?" said Pat, going to the next machine. "He's obviously a millionaire with all the shit 'e's got in this place. He's also got someone good hooking it all up, the wiring is bloody insane, but –" He ripped one wire and the door opened in front of them, "I'm not exactly mentally stable myself, so it all works out, dunnit?"

"Well, I know you're not mentally stable, at least," said Don.

"Bite me!" Pat called back from inside the next room.

Don waited through a number more of locks and wire disconnections that he wouldn't have understood if his life depended on it. He had to give Pat credit for patience with electronics like that, as he was never good at putting up with even his own laptop when it started running slow. Pat, on the other hand, had souped up his laptop when it started running slow, and had done so on a very low budget with little more than spare parts from old desktop computers to work with. Don was better at working with people. Pat, with as scatterbrained as he was around other humans, was much better off with electronics. Don had never actually broken in to anywhere before either, not in this sense, accompanied or otherwise. He generally just talked his way into places and got what he needed with persuasion. He couldn't say, however, who's method was truly better.

Though he would have argued to death that his own method was thousands of times better.

They finally made it to a stairwell in around a half an hour, which Don looked up. The stairs spiraled upward in a square formation, stopping at each and every floor along the way. Pat and Don looked at each other.

"What floor did she say again?" asked Pat.

"The top."

They both looked up at this. "I'll be working off my last twenty meals if I have to climb all the way up there…" Pat said miserably.

"Then start climbing," said Don, doing so himself. "Your weight's slipping anyway. What do you weigh now, sixty pounds?"

"More than that! I'm damn near twice as tall as you, for starters."

"And yet you look like you're made of nothing but skin and bones. I don't understand that, either, you eat five times what a normal person does in a day in one meal half the time."

"Do not. And you're one to talk, you stunted your growth when you started smoking at the age of twelve."

"You obviously contributed to yours with something. You look like you've been snorting Miracle-Gro plant food since you were a small child."

"God, you do something once and you never bloody live it down…" Pat mumbled.

"What?"

"Huh?"

For around twenty or so floors, the conversation remained basically similar. They probably wouldn't have gotten along as well as they did if it wasn't for the constant streams of insults exchanged between them when they weren't working on the Kira case in almost complete silence. That required silence, anyway. Lately, Pat had been focused on hacking into Yotsuba's main frame. After managing that, he went on to hack into their security cameras, which he then sent to another computer in their old apartment that transferred the images onto television screens (all of which they would need to move soon). Don had been in charge mostly with research on times of deaths, who the people were, and if there were any connections between them, so he had discovered Yotsuba in the first place. It had been boring work, but it had yielded results rather quickly, just not quick enough to match up with the speed of the investigation team.

They finally reached a locked door at the top of the tower of stairs at what felt like hours later. Without thinking, Pat started to turn the door knob – which turned out to be locked. He rolled his eyes and swore under his breath as he kneeled down in front of the key card box and used his screwdriver to again pry open the device. He pulled on a wire, which caused something in the door to click, and he stood back up quickly to open it.

Then he took immediately to gaping silently in awe at the investigation room, with all of its computers and security cameras and coffee machines and – coffee machines? Even so, it was amazing. Despite the fact that there were seven people in the room, it seemed almost completely silence, which made everyone in the room (including Pat, incidentally, who had just spotted Misa on the monitors) jump in surprise at the small _beep!_ when Don pressed the timer button on his watch.

"Definitely not your best," he said to Pat.

"Excluding the stairs, though," said Pat disappointedly.

"Excluding the stairs, probably top five."

After a few minutes of getting over the surprise of the intruders (who had indeed gone unnoticed to even L, contrary to when Aiber and Wedy had broken in), introductions were made (proving instantly that all Pat knew in Japanese were the words "konichiwa," "gomennasai," "moshi moshi," and "sumimasen"), and an unofficial interrogation was started by the time the two were _almost_ settled in. Luckily, as the police force had been required to have learned English in case of any issues with tourists, Aiber and L's first languages _were_ English, and Light knew twice as much English as anyone in Toudai (and may have well spoke it more properly than both Pat and Don), the interrogation was easily done in a language that everyone could understand.

Pat, however, was too busy watching Misa on the cameras to answer anything, anyway.

"Ouch!" he said at being elbowed by Don, rubbing his ribs. "What?"

"You were just asked a question," Don said quietly. "_Again_."

"_Why_?" Pat inquired, looking back up at Misa. "There are more important matters at hand, I have to make sure the second Kira suspect doesn't kill anyone!"

"Just answer the damn question!" Don said.

"What question?"

"What reason do we have to believe that neither of you could be Kira?" Yagami repeated.

Pat looked away from the cameras. "Because I'm _not_. There," he added to Don, "hope you're bloody happy…" He again turned his attention back to the monitors.

Then they went black. Pat's eyes widened in something like terror before looking around to see what could have possibly caused such a horrible thing to happen – then he saw L with a remote. And he glared.

"I apologize, but we will be requiring full cooperation on both of your parts," said L.

"He'll cooperate even less now," said Don, looking at Pat. The rest of the team looked at him at this, and all could see that he was now staring at the remote as though he was intent on using the Force to summon it to him. L rolled his eyes, picked up the remote, and handed it to Mogi at this. Mogi looked at it for a moment before shrugging it off and handing it back to Matsuda, who looked behind him, saw that there was no one else to hand the contraption to, and decided to take it to the other side of the room and put it inside a cabinet. He then hurried back over.

"Fine, I'll bloody listen…" said Pat resignedly. "Even though it's not particularly good for my health. I have ADD, you know, this could permanently damage my psyche."

"Your psyche's already damaged beyond repair," said Don.

"Quiet, we're being interrogated, remember?"

"All right," said Don, "then I'm giving myself permission to elbow you at any moment you won't shut up."

"Fine." Pat looked at the investigation team and said, in a sarcastically sincere manner, "I would be utterly delighted it we could continue the interrogation. Any more questions?"

"Why do we need you on the team?" asked Light.

"To catch Kira. Duh. Ouch," Pat added at being elbowed.

"You obviously need a qualified manager for Misa Amane," said Don, "and I have been the manager of many famous and not so famous actresses, actors, and models in the past – Angelina Jolie, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Gwyneth Paltrow to name a few – mostly only for the sake of getting money, but now it serves a higher purpose."

"And him?" said Light, indicating Pat.

"'Him' has a name," said Pat.

"Him?" said Don, nodding sideways at Pat. "Entertainment, what else?"

"Hey!"

"All right," said Don, "really. He hacked into Yotsuba's main frame in a matter of minutes. He also managed to hack into their security system from there. As soon as we move our equipment in, he has a computer that serves the sole purpose of imposing the images from Yotsuba's security cameras onto a number of television sets."

"And it's really interesting," said Pat. "If there's nothing on cable, there's always something interesting to watch going on at Yotsuba. I've also got an entire infiltration plan for the main office building that I devised from the images on the security cameras."

"Do you have any idea who Kira could be among the employees at Yotsuba?" asked L.

"One of eight," said Pat. "Ooi, Kida, Shimura, Takahashi, Namikawa, Hatori, Higuchi, or Midou. Now, I personally think it's Namikawa."

"Why is that?"

"Because the bloke just looks evil, you know?"

L looked between the two of them as Don rolled his eyes at his friend again. There was no doubt they were both intelligent and would prove to be assets in the case, but Pat would definitely end up getting on at least Yagami's last nerve before they caught Kira, and possibly L's. There was a difference between intelligence like book smarts and technical knowledge, and common sense and knowing when to act maturely. Pat had the technical intelligence, but he had the personality of a ten-year-old. That would make him as difficult to work with, if not more difficult to work with than, even Matsuda, particularly with his strange fixation with Misa.

"I'm betting on Higuchi," said Don. "He seems to value money and promotions over everything if you look into his history at Yotsuba. He's exactly the type of guy that would slip poison into his adversary's coffee just to get them out of his way, so if he got his hands on Kira's power, there's no doubt in what he would use it for."

"I still think it's Namikawa," said Pat.

"You can't base these things on how vampiric a person looks," Don said impatiently. "At any rate, I could be wrong, it could just as easily be any of the others, but the least likely contenders are probably Namikawa –" And Pat snorted at this, "Midou, and Shimura. Their histories are basically honest from the research I've done, but they could just be better at covering their tracks than the other five are."

"Then you have been doing research on the case. It seems you have arrived at around the same point in your investigation as we have," said L. "For out first action, Aiber will be acting as Erald Coil."

"What if the real Erald Coil finds out?" said Pat. "He's supposed to be at least second best in the world."

"The detectives Danuve and Erald Coil are also me," said L.

"… Oh."

"Kida, one of the eight you mentioned, requested an investigation of the detective L with Erald Coil. So, Aiber will feed them information. In the meantime, we will be deciding what information to feed Yotsuba to keep them happy enough not to question Aiber's identity as Coil, while formulating a plan to catch Kira at the same time, or make him admit. We haven't yet all agreed on one solid plan."

"You're still in the planning stages of the plan," said Pat conclusively.

"Yes."

"Then are we accepted onto the team?" asked Don. "Because if I've done my homework properly," he said, checking his watch, "Misa Amane is due to be on set in downtown Tokyo in an hour, which means this can't last much longer at all, as it could take a while to get there with the way traffic's looking."

"Is she going to come in here first?" asked Pat hopefully.

"For her sake, I'm hoping she won't," said Don, looking at Pat reproachfully. "You could really be a stalker if you set your mind to it."

"I wouldn't have to leave home more than once, either. Just find out where they live, set up the cameras and the bugs, trace them back to my house."

"You're bloody crazy," said Don exasperatedly, then to L, "I honestly won't mind if you kick him off the team, the idea of him being within walking distance of Amane at all times is a bit disturbing."

L looked between the two again, just as Pat figured out there was a button on the keyboard next to him that turned the monitors back on. It was going to be a horribly long investigation with Pat there all the time, particularly him and Katherine at the same time. He wasn't sure why, but the thought of them teaming up on… well, _anything_, seemed a bit frightening.

* * *

_Now, of course, the inevitable list of questions._

_Will L learn to accept Pat or simply continue to hate his immature ways?_

_Will Pat ever get to see Misa in person again?_

_Will Misa get along with her new manager?_

_Will Don need some bloody Jose Cuervo NOW by the time he's done with his first trip to the movie set with Misa?_

_Will Katherine discover that the interrogation went on without anyone bothering to call her down from hers and Misa's flat for it?_

_And, when will Matsuda join LDC, if ever (the Legally Dead Club, in case you didn't read the last chapter for some reason)?_

_All this and more to come at some random point in time in **The King's Note**._


	38. Chapter 37: Solemn Sobriety

_Loads of comments to reply to this time, eh? I suppose I'd better get started!_

_blueness12: Thanks! I suppose it's just because I love writing XD And I'm not going to stop with this story until it's finished. Any story on my list isn't abandoned. I'm on hiatus from a few of them, but I will keep working on them.  
__ellan54: I suppose it could count :P And L won't kill you, he'll just get a bit mad.  
Everyone Like Me: Thanks muchly. Pat and Don are my favorite OC's I've written for in a while.  
I Major in Majick: Thanks :) And, not necessarilly everyone. Mostly just Light XD  
Divolka: All day? O.O Wow. And thanks for the review! I'm not that great at in depth ones myself.  
Volital: Well, he's not as minor now that he's on the task force :D  
Sybil Corvax: Thanks! And sorry - I try to do a once a day update but my English and Math classes that are attempting to brutally murder me prevent me from doing so :(  
erina destiny: Not quite a fit. And don't worry, he will get annoyed quite a bit XP  
Marisol Akyri: He's my favorite too :D he's rather fun to write for. And 'tis possible that they will be, tis possible.  
dreamerxofxroses: Yeah, he very well could need it =P  
ani-sand: Just a bit, yeah :P I'll be trying to update sooner next time.  
HeeHeeHee01: Thanks :) Power reading, love that. I do that all the time. Actually, it was Pat in the second chapter, I think, not Don. :checks: Yeah, it was him. There's been more with Don via cell phone conversations, but Pat's the only one that's been introduced in any face to face interaction. But again, thanks :D  
Baytail: Haaa, creeptacular. Nice one, I'll be using that from now on XD  
ActionFry: I've been working in advance on the chapter where Wedy comes up. I do that with the important bits. I'm glad you caught up with it, and thanks for the review :)_

_That's... :counts: 14 reviews!!!!! And currently 107 favoriters, 99 alerters, too many freaking hits, 2 C2 communities, and 297 comments - just three more til 300!!!!!!! This is the most popular any of my fanfics have gotten, and I'm quite happy. Grateful to everyone who's ever commented. Thank yooooooo!!!!!!_

_**Disclaimer**: I don't own any Death Note stuff. Well, I own some copies of the manga, just not the rights to them. If the writers came to my house and told me to give them back, I would have to. I understand that fully. I just hope it never happens O.O_

_**Warnings**: Computer hacking, noobs, lolcats, Misaworship, vampiric suspicions, Azkelpeddhegger, lack of alcohol in presence of Misa, annoying honoraries._

_**Quick-sum**: In this chapter, we discover that Namikawa is a vampire, Kira is a "noob," according to the opinion of his own computer, and that Misa is a force to be reckoned with when the one reckoning with her lacks alcohol._

* * *

It was lucky that Katherine had come downstairs before Misa. She had hurried back upstairs before even saying hello to her friends _and_ before giving L hell for not giving her any heads up that they had arrived to force Misa to take the elevator to the ground floor of the building. She didn't mention that this was to avoid Pat. Misa's main issue was that she remembered the non-Misa-obsessed Pat with whom she had gotten along with rather well upon their first meeting. She didn't know that there was a psychotically obsessed potential stalker of hers in the same building as her. Furthermore, she really didn't _need_ to know.

Katherine sent Misa off downstairs and then headed down to the investigation floor herself by means of stairs. She fully expected to be told off or severely glared at when she arrived there, so it wasn't too big of a surprise when she found Pat standing at the foot of the stairs with his arms crossed, glaring. She crossed her arms and fake-glared back up at him.

"What?" she said. "You really think I was going to let you see Misa when you've turned into her number one stalker?"

"That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

"No, friends are for interventions." Katherine looked around Pat and spotted Don standing behind an empty chair at the monitoring station and examining everything. "Oi, Don!" she called over. He looked up from one of the monitors. "We need to hold an intervention for the Misa addict, how's next week Tuesday sound?"

"Pretty good, I don't believe my new client has any filming scheduled," he said. He hurried over to that side of the investigation room. "Speaking of my new client," he added cheerfully, "I'm off to spend the rest of the day with her. Goodbye."

Katherine walked over towards the monitoring stations, hearing the Pat's reaction echoing behind her: "_Burn in hell you son of a bitch!_"

"Yeah, as soon as the shoot's over," said Don.

"Get me an autograph first!" Pat added hopefully.

Katherine shook her head as she took a seat at her preferred computer. "That poor kid," she said under her breath with a laugh. She then picked up a few papers from next to her computer, all regarding Yotsuba, as she could have guessed they would. She flipped through them quickly, aware no one was paying any attention to her and quite happy for it. Inconspicuously as was possible, she rolled the papers into a cylinder, hit her palm with them once to make sure they were sufficient for what they were about to be used for, and swatted the computer-absorbed detective sitting next to her across the back of his head, nearly causing L to fall out of his seat. His hand flew to his head as he looked over blinkingly.

"That hurt."

"_That_ was for not alerting me that my friends had arrived," she said, letting the papers fall flat again in her hands again and looking at them. "Okay, full names and pictures of all the main suspects, good good." Sensing a prescence behind her, she handed the papers backwards. "You think Namikawa's a vampire?" she asked, tilting her head backwards over her chair to look back at Pat.

"Yeah, also suspect he's Kira," he said, shaking his head and handing the papers back. "Then again," he added in a not-so-quiet whisper, "I also suspect mini-Yagami over there is Kira, so who knows?"

Light glared over from his computer. "I understand English."

"And I understand what your surname is backwards in English, so please keep away," said Pat, crossing his fingers and backing away as though warding off a demonic prescence.

Rolling his eyes, Light went back to his computer. Pat sat down at the empty chair Don had been standing in front of earlier and stared up at the monitors of Misa's empty room with slight annoyance, then decided on allowing the computer in front of him to entertain him for a while. Katherine looked up at the monitors herself for a moment, for no reason in particular except that she had just wondered if she had any Cheez-Its left, before going for her own computer for entertainment.

Five minutes later, she heard the sort of light speed typing that meant only one thing: Pat had hacked into something he definitely wasn't supposed to. She looked over onto his computer screen, which looked suspiciously normal, but he had a word processor file pulled up. She looked up and down the row at this – and saw Light looking particularly perplexed. When she looked back at Pat's computer screen and saw him using the "Ctrl" and "V" buttons on his keyboard to paste _KIRA_ over and over again on the word processer file, she understood instantly. He had hacked into Light's computer and decided to freak him out. However, she didn't say anything, as L had just noticed that Light's computer was acting oddly. That could be interesting.

"Light-kun, what are you doing to your computer?" asked L curiously, watching the word Kira appear repeatedly.

"M – me? – I wasn't doing anything except typing up notes, and it started _this_.

"Try asking it a question."

"Wh– it's a computer, Ryuzaki."

"I'm aware it's a computer, Light-kun," said L. "I mean type something, not ask out loud."

"What's it doing?" Katherine asked curiously, standing up and walking over. She looked over Light's chair as though genuinely interested. "Oh. _Oh_. The computer thinks you're Kira, too."

"Did you do this?" he asked suspiciously, looking over his shoulder.

"No, you can look at my computer if you don't believe me!" L did so, and read from her open file.

"'A-z-k-l-p-d-d-h-g-r'?" L read, looking at the computer screen in some bemusement.

"Right. Azkelpeddhegger. It's a code word in case Kira hacks into my computer. Had to develop my own language."

"Is… Na-goo-jee-trayu-ah-hag a code word as well?" asked Pat, glancing at the screen himself.

"Not technically. That's the name of the language," said Katherine. In truth, she had gotten bored with typing notes and began randomly running her fingers across the keyboard to make it look like she was working while she dozed off. It was usually effective, but it seemed it wasn't so much at the moment…

"Then it's not you."

"Ask it who it is," said Katherine.

"If it's spyware, I don't think anyone's going to – what're you doing??"

Katherine had already dragged Light's rolling chair backwards and taken the spot at the front of his computer. She typed in a few random letters, and the KIRA-ing stopped. "All right, that did something." She then typed "Who are you?"

And the reply:

"lYk, ii B teh GoD oF tEh CoMpOOtEr wOrLdZZ! lolz! KIRA iiS NOOBz!!11!!11!!!ELevenenenen!!!!1…2"

Katherine had to refrain from laughing at this for some unknown reason. "Well, there's your answer," said Katherine, just barely managing to keep a straight face as she looked back at Light. "The God of the Computer World thinks you're Kira. And that you're a noob."

Light glared and managed to push her out of the way to type himself: "Are you in the room?"

And the reply, Katherine saw on Pat's computer as she sat down at her own computer, was, "Reply hazy, try again."

The next question was, "Is there a reason you're doing this?"

"Cannot predict now."

"What's the point in this?"

"lolcatz."

"What?"

"You heard me, Imagay. lolcatz."

And at that, Pat opened up an internet browser, typed in the "lolcats" web address in the address bar, and got out of the hacked version of Light's computer and back to his own explorer window. Pat propped his elbow on the desk in front of him, and looked over at L and Light.

"What's going on over there?" he asked curiously. "Light having one of his I'm-a-gay issues?"

"What the _hell…?_" Light said, blinking at the webpage that had appeared on his page.

"Yep, that's the face he gets every time he looks at gay porn," said Katherine.

"Really? Awfully focused."

"Would you shut up?" said Light in annoyance, looking past L at the two of them. "Good _God_, and I though _one_ was annoying…"

"Who's 'One'?" asked Pat in a mock-curious manner. In return, he received one of Light's Kira glares, which weren't common now that he didn't know he was Kira. Pat blinked a few times and began to back his computer chair away. "Okay. I'll be quiet," he said in a rather small voice. Katherine gave a snort of laughter as she began searching for more information on Yotsuba. She had the slightest feeling that L was regretting having let Pat on the team, just judging by the look he was giving his computer screen.

* * *

Sitting on a bench near a movie shoot, leg bouncing up and down in a twitchy manner, Don was looking around furtively for somewhere that might possibly have at least the slightest bit of alcohol. He had gotten into this job thinking Misa couldn't have possibly been any worse than the defective con artist he usually spent all of his time with. What could possibly be worse than a Misa obsessed alcoholic hacker?

He knew now. It was Misa herself that could be worse.

Between having a voice that reached a pitch so high that only dogs could hear it (and they probably still ran from it) and being so insanely hyper, she was enough to make anyone want to pull their hair out. He and Pat had both met her before, shortly after they had all first started their own work on the Kira case, but she hadn't seemed as bad then. That could have possibly been because Don's blood alcohol level was much higher then – the initial introduction had been in a bar.

Today, though, he was insufferably sober and while he had no hangover, Misa had managed to give him a headache worthy of one. The shoot wasn't a long one, and was therefore almost over. He needed either a bar or a liquor store, one or the other. And all he really needed was a beer or two, that would do the trick. If he was forced to wait until he got back to headquarters… that would cause a slight problem. He'd need a _lot_ more than just a few beers at that point.

"Don-kun!!!!!"

Don flinched as Misa came running over, and his hand flew immediately to his forehead, where a sudden twinge of pain had nearly made it explode (or so he thought). When she got there, he stood up. "Is the bloody shoot over yet?" he asked irritably.

"It just ended," she said brightly. "Misa's ready to leave. Is Don-kun ready?"

Don took in a sharp breath of air and managed to refrain from strangling Misa. "Listen," he said in a calm tone that could have been described as nothing short of disturbing. "For the last time – it's not Don-kun, it's not Don-san, and for God's sake, it's _not_ Don-_chan_. It's just _Don_. No hyphen, no honorary. Just 'Don'. Do you understand?"

Misa nodded solemnly. "Sorry, Don. Misa didn't mean to offend you."

"All right," he said, starting towards his car parked along the side of the road – he and Misa had taken a cab to the old apartment complex he and Pat had been staying in so he could pick it up. "And do you have to refer to yourself in the third person?"

"Misa usually does. It's a habit," she said, shrugging. "But everyone at the building is used to it, Misa is sure Don will get used to it, too!"

Don got into the driver's side seat of his car and was quite grateful that Misa got into the back. He didn't care if it made him feel like a chauffer anymore. He was too afraid he'd reach over and snap her neck if she chose to sat next to him.

"Need a bloody beer…" he mumbled.

And then a voice came on in his ear. "Impossible. You need to be sober if you're coming back to headquarters to work on the Kira case."

He shook his head in utter confusion and reached up to poke at his ear – then remembered the earpiece he was wearing. It resembled a Bluetooth enough that no one would question it, and it was so insufferably comfortable that he had forgotten it was there.

"Fine," said Don in reply. "I'll make a mental note not to mumble things to myself anymore."

Aside from the earpiece, he was also wearing a bug, as he had agreed to. It was inside the collar of his shirt, and just loud enough to hear even the _slightest_ mumble. Now he was considering tearing it off of his collar and yelling into it in hopes that the raven-haired detective at the other end might go deaf in one ear. This was to help catch Kira – he just had to keep reminding himself of that, it was _just_ to catch Kira, that's all it was for. He had to remain calm in order to keep this job, as it was getting him inside information on the case and helping him work on it. Just… remain… calm.

"Don-kun!"

"It's not 'kun'!"

"Sorry," said Misa. "Why're you talking to yourself?"

"I'm not," he said, trying to hide his annoyance. And still, the words were running over and over in his mind

(_the Kira case it's for the Kira case it's for the)_

to stop him from reaching back and strangling her. They were on the road again in the severely congested traffic of Tokyo, and Don was looking around for the turn he was supposed to take next. "I'm talking to Ryuzaki back at headquarters. I've been bugged in case I'm not trustworthy for whatever reason."

"But Don seems trustworthy, why would Ryuzaki-san think he isn't?"

"Don't know, ask him when you get back," said Don. He spotted a bar and watched it pass by in the window, then in the rearview mirror, and blinked a few times.

"Ryuzaki-san's a butt."

"That I can agree with fully," Don mumbled, half-glaring down at the collar of his shirt where the bug was so inconspicuously attached. "Bloody dick…"

"You may say whatever you like if it will put you in a well enough mood to work on the Kira case."

Don clenched his hand around the steering wheel and didn't reply. How the _hell_ had Matsuda put up with this for so long? Of course, he hadn't had an insomniac detective who was so out of touch with the real world that it was surprising he hadn't regressed back into a monkey talking in his ear the entire goddamned time…. And he was _used_ to speaking in Japanese. Don still made mistakes occasionally that made Misa do that stupid high-pitched giggly laughing thing that made him want to remove his own eardrums by force.

Within a few extremely long, arduous, high-pitched minutes, Don was pulling into the parking of the headquarters apartment complex. He and Misa got out of the car. She looked at the door (which was still broken from Pat's attempt at "breaking his own record") and blinked a few times. She apparently hadn't noticed it on the way out – she had been more focused on whether or not she had done her makeup right and whether or not she would have to redo it by the time they got to the movie set. Now, though, she looked absolutely bamboozled.

"Did someone break into the headquarters?" she asked. "Ryuzaki-san said it was impenetrable."

"Yeah," said Don, "Pat and I did earlier today."

"Oh, wow, Pat-san and Don-kun – sorry! – Pat and Don must be smart!"

"It wasn't me that did the breaking in," said Don. "I just stayed out of the way. He's the burglar, I'm the con artist."

"Like those two that L hired earlier?" asked Misa.

"Yes, and if you're smart at all," he said quietly, pretending to adjust his collar but actually blocking the small microphone attached there, just in case, "you'll avoid mentioning Wedy's name ever. She and Pat know each other and he's not particularly fond of her. If he happens to be listening to the audio from any surveillance monitor you're on and you mention her, he'll leave Japan as fast as if a lion were chasing him to the airport."

"Oh," she said, nodding. "Misa didn't know, Misa won't say anything."

"Good."

Don hurried on to the elevator and got off as silently at the investigation room as he could so Pat wouldn't happen to turn and notice Misa. It was lucky he didn't. Don had dealt with Misa enough without having to worry about dealing with her biggest fan. He walked over to the two sofas off behind the main chairs in the room and fell onto one face forward.

"Good, you're back." Don ripped the earpiece off of his ear and dropped it on the floor. "You'll be –"

"Bugger off!" he yelled at L, his voice muffled from his face being pressed against the couch cushion. "I just spent the day with Misa Amane, I'm not in any sort of state to be doing any work…"

L blinked owlishly a few times, and then turned back around in his computer chair, looking at Katherine. Katherine shrugged in response. "I told you ya should've let him get a beer."

Pat, who had just switched the monitoring cameras back to Misa and Katherine's flat, looked over. "You have a bottle of Jack Daniels behind the trashcan in the bathroom."

Katherine looked at him, utterly perplexed. He pointed at one of the cameras. She looked – the glint of a square-shaped bottle was just barely visible behind a trashcan. She looked at Pat incredulously. "You could spot a bottle of whiskey from a mile away, couldn't you?" she asked, bemused.

He shrugged. "It's a gift. And I think he could use at least three shots."

Katherine heaved a sigh and stood up from her computer. "All right," she said, "but he'd better get used to Misa pretty damn quick. I'm not giving up any more of it."

* * *

_Oooohno, the inevitable list of random questions! Run awaaaaaaaaaaaay!_

_Not really. Read on._

_Shall Don ever get used to the Misaness of his new job?_

_Will Katherine have to saccrifice more of her sacred Jack Daniels stash to get him back into Kira-findind mode in the future?_

_How many more newspapers will L get whacked across the head with before the investigation ends?_

_How upset is L about Pat being on the team? (Shall answer my own question: really fucking pissed, but slightly amused by the torture it offers Light. He just chooses not to show the latter of the reactions.)_

_Will Pat be too afraid to go near Yotsuba at any point in time in the future for fear that the vampire known most commonly as Namikawa might be there?_

_Will Misa accidently slip up and mention Wedy in front of Pat?_

_And more importantly, will Don attempt pay Watari to keep alcohol stashed in his room for occasions such as this?_

_All this and more in some of the chapters at some point in time in the future!!!!!!!!_


	39. Chapter 38: Dyed Distress

_Ooooh, loads of stuff last chapter. Loads. Thirteen comments on that chapter alone and a few more on other chapters. Up over 300 comments. You people seriously rock :D Also over 100 favoriters and alerters._

_Replies:_

_Xer0-sama: :) Thanks. There's a bit more mentioned regarding the Legally Dead Club in this chapter, and Don and Pat are, indeed, Irish._

_Marisol Akyri: I bet L's not going for 54 more whacks XD haha. Aaand muchos gracias for ze comment :)_

_Princess de la Luna: Thanks for the many comments, and I've been doing my best to update quickly. It's just not working so well :/_

_ani-sand: Thanks muchly - I will try to update sooner but, as always, school makes me uncertain of whether or not I'll be able to._

_chaostheory1989: Glad it gave you a laugh. I've been in a crap mood myself lately so I know the feeling; writing's the only thing that's been helping and I can't do much of that because I got stuck in college credit English and Math this year that's driving me nuts. But, thanks for the comment :)_

_blueness12: Thanks :D No plans of stopping, just slowing down a little bit as my classes have started tossing essays at me again :/_

_Sparanda: Gotta love lolcatz and filler chapters XD_

_ActionFry: Thanks mucho. I loved doing the computer hacking bit. My school's computer teacher actually used to do that. While we were working on assignments he'd hack into our user and start typing random crap on them. Half of the class thought their computers were haunted for the entire first year we had that class XD And Namikawa seriously does look like Dracula - but vampires are neato, so that's cool :P_

_Madeline Cullen: Thanks, and I shall try to :)_

_Sybil Corvax: Haha, I even felt bad writing him into that mess XD_

_watergoddesskasey: Thanks_

_Three Books in the Fire: Wow. Your penname change spazzed me out for a minute, I thought my chapter had deleted your comment for a moment XP Anywho, thanks - and the lolcatz bit, totally random, I was writing that chapter while intermittenly looking at pics on lolcatsdotcom, and I was like "heeey, this would be amusing..." :P_

_tHePuNkPriiNcEzs: Three days? Woah, I forgot it was that long O.O Thanks for taking the time to read and review, though :) Tis much appreciated!_

_**Disclaimer:** no owns. Sucks. Seriously. I'd be a freakin millionaire if I did own._

_**Warnings:** Close Pat-Wedy encounter, Monty Python references, corny french accents combined with Japanese words, wigs, hair dye, "penguin suits," LDC, starfish, weasels, conspiring, hot pink hair dye._

_**Quick-sum:** In this chapter, it is discovered that red hair dye, ties, and hangovers make life just a bit more amusingly miserable for the Kira investigation team._

* * *

Katherine strummed her fingers on the table, watching the W on L's computer screen with a mixture of disinterest and utter hatred. Though the voice was mechanically distorted, Watari had just connected it through, and Katherine knew that there was only one other W working on the investigation team, and that that W and Pat were both at the Yotsuba building. Katherine looked at L.

"This is really pushing it, you know," she said quietly.

"It's going to work."

She gave a sigh and looked back at the W. Either one of them would end up killing the other or Pat would see her and leave the country. She was on top of the building checking security. Pat was standing by out front and monitoring everything, and had been instructed to go up once ensured that the coast was clear. The only thing that might prevent Pat from doing anything irrational was Don, who was luckily there with him. However, Don didn't have nearly as much control over his slightly more immature counterpart as L might have thought. The only people that had ever had any sort of control over Pat's actions were Al and his grandmother, both of whom were no longer, one at the hands of Kira and the other at the hands of pneumonia. He barely had control of his _own_ actions half the time. This was slightly worrying.

"I'm out," came the electronic voice over the computer. "Heading south on a back road."

"And how far away from Yotsuba?"

"Around half a mile."

"Good," said L. "Then we're done here. Don't go back under any circumstances until you are instructed to."

"Got it."

There was a click as Wedy was disconnected and Katherine heaved a sigh of relief and pressed a button on a microphone in front of her computer. "It's safe to head up," said Katherine. "Pat, attempt to do _no negotiating_."

"Aw, but why not?" came a disappointed voice in reply. "I like negotiating!"

"You heard her, ya feckless idiot," said Don cheerfully. "That part's all on me. You're so terrible at it you'd get us both thrown in jail before we got through the door."

"Oi!"

"You made the fake cards for us to get in, isn't that enough? If anyone asks you anything, I'll tell them that you're an intern from a local college job shadowing me. You can barely speak Japanese yet as it is."

There was a grumble of agreement, then a momentary pause. "I bloody hate wearing suits…" Pat said miserably after a moment. "The tie feels like it's going to strangle me. Or fly up in my face and suffocate me."

"And I hate having my damn hair dyed, get over it. At least you only had to wear a wig."

"That's because anyone who brings a pair of fecking scissors near my head is going to end up with a second hole in their arse!"

"Yeah, we all know Patrick Star turns ninja when anyone attempts to screw with the Axl Rose cut."

"Stop calling me –!"

Katherine pressed the button for the microphone again. "Would you two knock it off and get inside the building before someone gets suspicious as to why you're discussing being in disguise?" said Katherine impatiently. "Hurry the hell up! Main security monitoring station. Remember, just let Don do the talking. And if you say konnichiwa to anyone, Pat, you'll be lucky if you're allowed to keep your head for more than five minutes when you get back here."

"Yes, Mummy. I'll be good."

"You keep it up and you won't be allowed any alcohol for the remainder of the case."

"Sumi-masón."

Katherine glared at the microphone as though it had magically produced the overly exuberant French accent. "What are you now, French?" she snapped.

"Yes, why do you zink I have zis outrageous accent-uh?"

Katherine let go of the button and let her head fall to the computer desk. "They're going to get caught," she groaned in annoyance. "If he's going to walk around Yotsuba quoting _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_, they're going to get caught within five minutes…"

L apparently agreed with this theory, as he took the microphone from in front of Katherine's computer and spoke into it. "Stop messing around. You have a job to do. Get it done efficiently or there will be consequences."

"Does death await us with nasty big pointy teeth?" Don asked in a mock-curious voice. Pat gave a snort of laughter. There was a cough in the room, one that mostly likely meant Matsuda was masking a laugh to avoid being glared at by anyone. Katherine was beginning to think L might have been right to not want to hire these two – though that could have just been the minor hangover headache she had thinking for her. Between her and the two idiots they were monitoring, her bottle of whiskey was long gone. Pat and Don were fine, of course. Katherine, however, had gotten entirely out of the habit of drinking and her brain was pounding away at the inside of her skull.

"No," L replied, and Katherine was utterly amazed that he managed to keep his tone so entirely stoic, "but you won't be working on the task force much longer if you fail on your first assignment."

"Point taken," said Don. "Pat, behave."

"Beehive?"

"Behave!"

"Right, sooorrry…"

Katherine sat back up straight and looked over at L. He was looking utterly perturbed by the situation, and Katherine honestly couldn't say she blamed him at that moment. If not for the headache, she probably would have joined in with them. However, as it was, they had forced her to do a few shots of whiskey. For someone who wasn't even used to beer anymore, the side effects weren't very pleasant to deal with. Not pleasant at all, in fact. She had been avoiding Misa all day for that very reason – she would have killed Misa if she heard the hyperactive blonde call her "Kat-chan" today.

* * *

"And here we are!" Pat locked the door behind the security guard that had just left and looked at the security monitors. "A brilliant use of spy work, I think they've got every corner of the place monitored, but it's not nearly high quality enough for the Kira case. Can I take this bloody tie off now?" he added hopefully, looking down at the red piece of fabric tied around his neck.

"Just put it back on before we leave, we've got to remain inconspicuous," said Don, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. "Just do whatever work you have to do and let's get out of here."

"Thank the lord…" he said, untying the tie. Pat examined the cameras for a few minutes, switching floors and rooms. Don looked up after a few minutes in just enough time to see all of the monitoring screens turn black, and to hear Pat give a thoughtful, "Huh…"

"What did you do?" Don asked slowly.

"Nothing, I just switched the cameras to the meeting room that the Kira group has been using. It appears they've taken the cameras out of that room…. One of the eight probably paid off security to let them take the cameras out so they could have their top secret meetings in peace. If that's the case, then we're going to have to hook up some more cameras."

"I've got the security schedule already," said Don. "As I'm 'inspecting their work.' We could work around their schedule quite easily I think. I think you could manage Yotsuba well enough, you installed cameras in nearly all of L's hotel rooms while he was in them."

Pat laughed. "That was a stroke of pure genius on my part. I've never done a job quite like that one before. Took every bit of self control I had not to start humming the Mission Impossible theme under my breath, I'm damn lucky I'm still alive."

"Just remember you would have never found L if it weren't for me posing as a police officer to follow Watari when he left the station."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," said Pat, waving his hand dismissively. "Let's see those security guard schedules now," he added, keeping his hand out behind him. Don reached in his pocket and pulled out a couple folded papers. He dropped them in Pat's hand. He took them and looked through the first page closely, then the next.

"Hmmm… seems like it should be easy enough. They have times set to check on each floor on the hour. There are less monitoring stations than there are floors, so each of them have to switch to a different floor. And there is at least a five minute period of time in which the nineteenth floor is completely unmonitored."

"And that's when we should plan to break in," said Don conclusively.

"Exactly," said Pat, handing him back the papers. "You're known here as an inspector now for the security. You could come back when we decide to break in to talk about lax security measures and shortcuts they've taken and need to fix or something. Huge building, I'm sure they've slipped up somewhere. I can easily make my way to the top of the building undetected as long as I'm left to go about it alone, and I can work my way through in the five minute moments of lax security, switching between floors as the cameras working on each one aren't being monitored. I've already got the whole building memorized just from when I hacked into their mainframe before. Apparently they smelled a rat, as that's obviously not working anymore, I checked back at our apartment when we stopped there before coming here. But, the fact of the matter is I already know this place like the back of my hand, so that doesn't matter. I just need to get this schedule memorized, have Ryuzaki buy a good few high tech cameras, and it'll be done."

"What about the elevators?" asked Don, looking the schedule over. "There aren't any cameras on those?"

"Not a one," said Pat happily. "That makes my job significantly easier. Thank God Ryuzaki isn't in charge of running this place, there'd be cameras bloody everywhere."

"No kidding, and we wouldn't be able to get in without a retina scan or some shit."

"Or a sledge hammer. Not quite as inconspicuous, but still effective for desperate measures."

"True."

At the other ends of the bugs attached to Don and Pat was the rest of the investigation team. Out of them, Katherine seemed to be in a slightly better mood now that they had started being serious, and L was slightly more accepting of being forced to work with the two of them now that Pat was showing the slightest signs of human intelligence. He held down the button for the microphone that led to their earpieces. "Then you have a plan; report back to headquarters as soon as possible to work with it further."

"Got it," said Don. "I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible anyway."

"Does that mean I have to retie this bloody noose?" asked Pat miserably, most likely looking down at his tie.

"Just tie the bloody thing and stop complaining," said Don. "We have to get back to headquarters and work out our own schedule if your plan is ever going to work. And I'm not saying it won't, I'm just saying hurry up."

There were a few grumbles in response, followed by general silence, then a door opening a few moments later. A few minutes later, the sound of Don negotiating a day for him to return to Yotsuba with the head of the security department came through to the investigation room. L told him three days, and he accordingly told the head of security in three days, but he was unsure of what time because his schedule was a bit full, so he would just have to call in advance.

"Of course, as long as it won't interfere with anything. Best be going, I have to head across the city to the Sekimaru-Corp main offices, seems they've recently had a breach in there systems."

And with that, the two were headed for the front exit.

* * *

When they arrived back at headquarters, Don's initial plan of business was to glare at his reflection's new hair color in the mirror and mumble complaints about not just being allowed to wear a wig as well. Pat's was to "change out of this fecking penguin suit." He threw the wig and the tie onto the couch as he walked past it as well. After gathering a randomly assembled pile of clothes, he kicked the now red-haired Don out of the bathroom, whilst commenting on how he looked like he could have stepped right out of a Harry Potter book.

"You know what?" said Pat. Don glared from outside the doorframe in response. "From this point forward, you will be known as 'The Weasel.'" And with that, Pat shut the door and locked it. Something hit the door with a loud _thunk!_

"Fuck you, Starfish! You won't be able to call me that when it's brown again!"

"The memory will live on, Weasel."

_Thunk!_ "Prick!"

A few hours later, Pat and Don had efficiently developed their plan right down to the minute, and Pat's escape route would be simple, yet not very inconspicuous and slightly dangerous. He would have to climb down the fire escape from that floor down in order to get out without the cameras picking him up. All but Katherine, Don, and Pat himself were doubtful that Pat could pull off the stunt unnoticed. L was particularly doubtful as Katherine attempted to explain.

"Honestly, you've only seen the idiot side of –"

"Oi!"

"Quiet, Starfish – of him," Katherine continued, with Pat grumbling huffily about not being a SpongeBob character while sitting on the couch next to her. "When he's breaking into and out of multinational corporations, he turns into a completely different entity. He can pick any lock, he's _never_ been caught – except by his grandmother sneaking out of the house when he was about twelve, but I don't suppose that counts – and if he even gets close to being caught, we'll have Don on the lookout to distract anyone from him. That hair should probably do the trick, it's brighter than the sun."

Don, who had enjoyed a few hours of no mentions of his hair, instantly glared around Pat at her. "You're one to talk, Red."

"Mine's _dark red_. You're a right ginger now."

And he took to glaring silently at the other wall at this, mumbling. "Wasn't _my_ bloody fault… fecking detectives…."

His glare was shot at L for a short moment before it went back to the wall.

Everyone eventually agreed with the plan, and a few short minutes later they were all back at the computers and all in their regular states of mind. Light was researching. L was typing. Mogi was being his usual unusually quiet self. Yagami was researching – like father, like son. Pat was explaining the concept of the Legally Dead Club to Matsuda, which Matsuda seemed to find highly intriguing. Katherine herself had yet to have joined the club. She was careful with her aliases, which were all still supposedly alive and well.

Then there was Don, who was in an exceptionally better mood than before, and not quite in his regular state of mind. He was, in a conspiring yet amused manner, showing Katherine what color hair dye he was going to switch for Pat's shampoo on his computer. There were a number of options. Just about every shade of red, blue, green, pink, and purple had been bottled into hair dye form. It was a risky business. He who messed with Pat's hair would either live to regret it or not live for much longer at all. Don, however, was just annoyed enough about his new hair color to be willing to take that chance. Katherine couldn't decide if it was either brave or extremely stupid, so she resolved that the idea was most likely a little of both.

"You see," Don was saying quietly, glancing over to make sure Pat was still occupied trying to remember all of his aliases he had killed off, "I don't give a damn about my hair. It's just there. I never wanted it to be red, but I can deal with it."

"Orange," Katherine corrected brightly.

"Yes, _orange_," he said irately, then continued, "but Pat would go livid if anything happened to _his_ hair."

"As we all know from that one time he woke up with a bald cap on and panicked when he thought he'd gone bald overnight," said Katherine. Don looked at her blankly. "Ah. You were in jail in a frilly dress at the time."

He shuddered. "Bloody _hate_ tequila," he said, shaking his head. "Now, what color do you think would be better?"

Katherine looked at the computer screen. "No greens, that's not embarrassing enough. Bright red is just awesome, so that's out. No blues, either. I'd say turquoise, but I think the hot pink would go better with the look of horror on his face when he sees his hair is changing color."

"Definitely," Don agreed. "I'll order it to our old address and just keep the apartment until it gets there."

"… and Jacques Bourgeois in Paris, France, who reportedly fell off of the Eifel Tower to his death," Pat finished. "That makes eleven."

"I only had the one alias and now I'm not even allowed to leave headquarters," said Matsuda.

"I wonder how the chairman of the LDC is going to like his new gay hair," Katherine said quietly in a speculative manner. Don closed out of the webpage.

"I'll order it on my laptop later after he's fallen asleep."

"I'll surprised if you even live twenty-four hours after doing this," said Katherine, laughing and moving her chair back to her computer.

"That may be true," Don said, grinning as he reopened his internet browser to do a bit of actual research, "but the short time I do live to see his reaction will be well worth it."

* * *

_QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!_

_Yes._

_Will Pat's next close call with Wedy not be just a close call?_

_Will Don be killed when Pat's hair magically turns hot pink?_

_Will Matsuda choose to join the Legally Dead Club?_

_Do Weasels and Starfish actually get along?_

_Will I make more Monty Python and the Holy Grail references at any point in time?_

_Will Comma reinstate the sacred-yet-lost Word of the Day?  
Yes, she will._

_The word of the day is "fummins." At least one person should know the meaning of this (you know who you are :P ). The rest of you, feel welcome to, - no, feel **encouraged**! - to guess the meaning of the word :D_

_Until next time, goodbyez!_


	40. Chapter 39: Ineffective Vengeance

_I know exactly what you're all thinking. Yeah, seriously. No, I'm not psychic, but I bet it's something along the lines of:_

_Holy crap. The bloody punctuation mark actually updated after a forever-long hiatus._

_Am I right? You know I am._

_And I apologize now for taking so damn long, believe me when I say it wasn't intentional. I apologize muchly._

_And, now to reply to my many comments on the last chapter (and WOW there were a lot). Since there were so many, I'm not going to reply to all of them. I'm sorry if I don't get yours. It's not because I didn't appreciate it very much, it's just because if I can't think of anything to say in reply, I can't reply very well. But I appreciate everyone commenting and reading and everything, believe me.  
_

_ThreeBooksInTheFire: Slartibartfast? YES. I'll coin it as the word of the year at the bottom of the page, Hitchhiker's Guide was awesome XD Ah, I don't think I could bring myself to kill of Don or Pat, I like them too much. Who knows, though? I'm sorta evil to my OCs.... Ah, I didn't even notice the Eifel Tower thing. Yay for unintended puns!  
_

_ActionFry: You're the only person who knew what the word of the day was! Have a cookie. Anyway, yeah, I'm a bit cruel to L XD lol, yeah, don't feel bad, I've gotten into a habit of thinking in an Irish accent while I'm writing this story. I blame it on BBCA and my obsession with Top Gear. But aaanywho, yeah, thanks for the review :P  
_

_watergoddesskasey: XD Monty Python and the Holy Grail rocked, that was one of the best parts in the movie.  
_

_E: That it will. Just not so much for Pat :P  
_

_blueness12: Don't we all, I'd love to be able to hack into computers like that XP. Yeeaah, I hope everyone understands my lateness. I don't want to be killed via internet. That would suck.  
_

_Sparanda: Si, mucho fummins XD  
_

_Sybil Corvax: Aye, very much needed, if only for the amusement factor. Torturing my OCs is how I put up with being such a kind person in real life XD Oh, but yeah, it would definitely suck if he did end up running into Wedy.  
_

_Madeline Cullen: Will do, and muchos gracias :]  
_

_Marisol Akyri: Welll, there will probably be more random Monty Python references just because of who's writing this fic, buuut none in this chapter :[ I didn't even think about it.  
_

_I Major In Magic: I was thinking more along the lines of them attacking him with ecky-ecky-ecky-ecky-pi-kang-zoom-boing. That would be priceless XD  
_

_Stalker of Stories: Thanks for the in-depth review, I like reading longer ones that actually offer a bit of constructive criticism. I recently began rereading everything myself and I'm probably going to end up rewriting a good bit of the first half of the story. The characters are a bit static, and it's rather late in the storyline to fix that entirely. I didn't really offer enough information about their histories in the story and I changed things around about them as I went on with it, so I'm not happy with the beginning of the story at all anymore. The main aspects of it that I worked on all the way through were the plot change (since I like screwig with storylines to no end) and the humor (since I can't write anything without injecting humor into it at some point), so I'm glad that much worked out. Still though, I'd like to rewrite it and improve it as much as I can. If you've got any suggestions or advice for me, I'd be glad to hear it out.  
_

_leone: Thanks very much - stuff like this is a good distraction from the real world, but I've still been busy lately with all the crap that's going on. Real life sucks sometimes, but I can't hide away from it all the time. I'm glad you've enjoyed the fic, and I definitely have no intentions of discontinuing it.  
_

_whatthehell: Thank you for the compliments, I do appreciate it. To answer your questions, however. I know Light's not an idiot. He's managed to outsmart L, after all, and considering who L is, that automatically sets him to genius status. The reason I "idiotize" him is because in writing from Katherine's perspective, I have to. Yes, I dislike Light, but I definitely respect his intelligence. I'm not inserting myself into the story, however, and Katherine doesn't respect his intelligence. Even though he isn't Kira at the moment, she still holds a grudge against Light himself for the death of Al - I haven't elaborated much on Al's relationship with Kat, Don, and Pat, but I will in later chapters. Writing about Light in any other way would cause me to be writing the thoughts of my own original character in an OOC fashion, which would just be odd. And for the other half of your question, Katherine already knows Light's entire plan. See Chapter 18 for details. She's not guessing what's going on, she knows because she was told by Kira himself when she convinced Light she was on her side.  
_

_Vampire Note: :le gasp: No! My L! :steals a rather confused looking L back and places him back in the story: And no worries. There shall be pink XD  
_

_Takun123: As I said to whatthehell up above, I know he's Kira at the moment. Heck, if I were on the investigation team and I was aware of that, I'd be cool with him. I hate Light as Kira. Katherine hates Light in general; she sees him, not Kira, as responsible for what happened to Al in the earlier chapters in her subconscious mind. When I am harsh on him, notice I'm generally writing from her point of view. That's because she is harsh on him. But, thank you very much, and I'll keep writing - updates might be a bit slow, but they will keep coming.  
_

_Yami no Hebi: Thanks for the review. I described more of Katherine in earlier chapters, particularly in Chapter 2, I believe. Pat and Don, I have their descriptions posted up on my page on here, but I haven't really said much regarding them in the story itself. I'm bad about that, but I'll try to include a bit more about them within the next few chapters.  
_

_myuutsuni: Ah, thanks muchly :] Nope, wasn't a car, though XD And yeeeaaah, I imagine Pat would probably spaz a bit over the hair.  
_

_SmileyPenguin: Chinchilla XD I think I'll do that one as the word of the day for this chapter. Ramification will come next. Then flauccinaucihillipillification, just because it's fun to say XP Anyway, thanks for the review. I agree she was quite sue-like at first, as I mentioned in a few above replies, I'm planning on reworking the first parts of the story to fix that a bit. I'll probably include more of Pat, Don, and Al in the earlier chapters when I do that as well; I wasn't sure how important I'd make them when I first started writing the story, but as I managed to work them into the storyline more, they need a bit more recognition earlier on as well. Besides, I enjoy writing for Pat and Don, and while I know what Al is like in my mind, none of my readers do since I barely mentioned him at all, so I've gotta develop his character more as well. I will stay on the storyline, but there will still be humor included everywhere I can manage to fit it in just because I can't help it :P Ah, and love the penname, by the way. Penguins are total awesomeness.  
_

_8yume: I'm trying not to make an abundance of them for a reason. L didn't even have any human contact aside from Watari for most of his life, so moving things too fast would make the relationship seem quite a bit more unrealistic. There will be more in there, though, don't worry._

_Phew! There we go. Now, onto other things._

_**Disclaimer:** All your Death Note are not belong to us, as I would say if I was a character in Zero Wing. Which I also don't own, just for reference. I do own Pat, Don, and Katherine, however, and I own L as well, it's just no one knows it yet._

_**Warnings: **Oooooh, so many. Including, but not limited to, homicidal Pat, Misa-bribing, terrible revenge skills, and a buncha damned mafia wannabes._

_**Quick-sum: **It is evident that something something either very scary or very amusing is about to happen when an angered yell rings out from downstairs of the investigation room in earlier hours of the morning.  
_

* * *

It had been four days since Don and Pat had headed back to Yotsuba. All of the cameras were installed in the meeting room on the nineteenth floor – all that was left to do was to wait. Fortunately, it was Friday, and the team knew the meetings occurred on Friday evenings. Unfortunately, however, it was only half past eight in the morning. That meant that they still had all day before they could view one of the group's meetings. The atmosphere was anxious, even at that hour, and the fact that they would finally get to see one of Yotsuba's meetings later only seemed to make time pass by more slowly. The three currently in the room had all only just clambered up to the investigation room within the past thirty minutes. For Matsuda, it was more along the lines of in the past five minutes. He still had over half a cup of coffee. Light and L were both already awake enough to be working. It would be a few more minutes at the most before Yagami or Mogi joined them – they were both usually up at around the same time as Matsuda. Then, there was at least another half hour before Pat got upstairs. It would probably be another fifteen minutes to a half hour before Don came upstairs in his regular not-a-bloody-morning-person mood and drank a couple cups of coffee. According to the surveillance of Misa's and Katherine's flat, Katherine would probably be downstairs in a few short minutes, as Misa had awoken her around fifteen minutes ago. She was currently grumbling under her breath as the blonde once again took to bothering her about her wardrobe.

When the door that led into the investigation room opened, L, Light, and Matsuda all looked back. Normally, no one bothered glancing back at the sound of the opening door, as there was no doubt that it was a member of the investigation team at this time of morning. However, at the very moment the door had opened, something else had happened that made them all look around in an at least slightly confused manner: a yell of absolute anger (with a side of utter horror, from the sounds of it) had issued from somewhere in the building. Given that Katherine and Misa were on the monitors and neither of them were yelling about anything (though Katherine seemed fairly close to the point of yelling if Misa continued bugging her), and that Mogi was never loud enough to make such a racket, that left it down between two very likely contenders. After a moment, L switched the cameras off of Misa's and Katherine's apartment. The view on the monitors was generally alternated every five minutes between the rooms when at least one person was in each monitored apartment, unless some sort of oddity occurred that required them to be alternated earlier or later. This was one such oddity.

There was greater surprise to be held when the apartment Pat and Don were staying in within the complex was found to be completely empty. They would probably find out soon why this was. The odds were that they would be in the investigation room in a matter of minutes – they were only two floors down, so even taking the stairs up wouldn't take that long.

Of course, before this could happen, someone had to ask the most obvious question of the moment, and that someone just had to be Matsuda. It was a few long minutes before anyone spoke of it again, and Yagami had already taken a seat at one of the open computers to begin researching by that point, but without fail, Matsuda most certainly did speak.

"What do you think that was about?"

Right on cue, the door leading into the investigation room from the main stairwell opened hard enough to cause it to slam into the wall, bounce off of it, and shut again. All turned around, or at least glanced over their shoulder, to see the source of the disturbance. It was revealed to be Don, who was currently locking the door he had just run through. L rolled his eyes. This was almost definitely to do with something entirely absurd, as the look on Don's face was of a profound, wicked amusement, and it would do no good to know what was going on. However, the door of the investigation room was generally left unlocked for most of the morning, so something had to be said.

"What are you doing?"

Don turned around as he finished locking the door and looked at L. "Can't explain now, I've got limited time, but yeh'll all figure it out fairly soon anyway." And with a quick glance over his shoulder at the door, he quickly moved onto the next staircase. L changed the monitors back again, and the investigation team caught a bit of Misa and Katherine's post-horrified-scream discussion.

"– can't _believe_ he actually went through with it, the idiot's going to get himself killed…" Katherine was saying, shaking her head as she took a seat on one of their sofas next to Misa.

"But why would Don want to do that, aren't they friends?" Misa asked. "It seems really mean…"

"Revenge," Katherine said. "Pat hasn't given him a moment of peace since Don had to have his hair dyed for that under cover job. Things like this are part of what makes them such good friends. I just think he might've taken it a _little_ too far with this one."

"But didn't Kat-chan pick out the col –"

Misa was cut short by a few quick, sharp knocks on the door that lead out to the stairway, followed by a panicked, albeit extremely amused, voice. "Oi! Let me in, there's a bleedin' lunatic about to kill me! Hurry the hell up, dammit!"

Katherine stood up with a sigh and started for the door. "Yeah, I did sort of help a little in this," Katherine agreed. "I guess I could lend a hand." She unlocked and opened the door when she reached it. Don hurried inside. Katherine shut the door behind him and locked it, then turned around with her arms crossed. "And what good is being in here going to do you? Yeh know as well as I do he'll just pick his way through that lock and come in here to murder you."

Even with this information, Don gave a relieved sigh as he fell onto the sofa across from Misa's and put a foot up on the table. He crossed his arms and looked over at Katherine. "Yeh'll not want to be standing there, then, I told him who picked out the color already."

Katherine glared, and with a mumble of, "Bloody bastard…" she returned to her seat on the sofa beside Misa. Then an idea struck her, and she looked sharply over at Misa, then at Don. "He wouldn't kill Misa."

Don raised an eyebrow. "Yer point?"

"Misa," Katherine said, looking at the blonde, "would you mind standing by the door?"

Misa gave her a look of slight reproach. "Misa doesn't want to get involved in this. Kat-chan and Don were mean to –"

"Yeah, but either you do that or we die," Katherine said. "That means you'll lose yet another manager, and…" Katherine trailed off and closed her eyes for a moment. A bribe would certainly work, she just wasn't sure whether the idea was worse than death or not. She exhaled in a sigh and continued, "and you wouldn't have anyone around here left to practice your cosmetology skills on."

Misa's eyes lit up at the idea of this torture. "Kat-chan's going to let Misa give her a makeover?"

Katherine shut her eyes again. "If you can convince Pat not to kill us, then…" She gulped. "Then yes. Gladly." Misa cheered at this and promptly hurried over to the door. When Katherine opened her eyes and saw that Don again looked quite amused at something, she glared. "Don't even start, I just saved both our asses," she shot at him.

Before he could reply, the door to the room opened quite forcefully. Don and Katherine both looked over in time to see Pat's quite obviously livid, red-faced form standing in the doorway, and there was no question as to _why_ he was livid, none at all. His hair was still slightly damp, and it was hot pink. Despite feeling slightly guilty, Katherine had to suppress a laugh. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop herself from talking. "Yeh know," she said wonderingly, "that shade of pink really goes good with the color of your face at the moment. Yeh might want to do something about the eyes, though. The green sor' of clashes with the current arrangement of colors."

And of course, this only made him angrier. He began to move forward. But then –

"Pat-kun!"

Misa's tackling him caused him to nearly trip over his own feet and stumble backwards before he could get even five steps across the floor. He looked down at Misa in utter shock when she let go – he apparently had failed to notice her at all upon opening the door. This was reasonable enough, as he was easily a foot taller than the blonde and hadn't been focused on anything but killing those responsible for committing such a horrible atrocity, and he had therefore been looking straight ahead rather than down. Now, his utter rage seemed to have shifted in surprise – then embarrassment.

"Oh. Er – ah, h-hello, Misa," was his reply to the enthusiastic greeting as he stared off in any other direction. Don sniggered at this, which turned out to be a mistake, as it directed Pat's attention back to his murder targets. However, Misa stopped him again before he could even start moving.

"Misa hasn't seen Pat-kun in forever!" She crossed her arms and looked at Don and Katherine, who were both biting back gales of laughter. "And Kat-chan and Don-kun are _still_ being big meanies to Pat-kun," she added sympathetically. She looked back at Pat, who was again glaring towards Katherine and Don.

"Aye. Not exactly the words I'd use, but I can't disagree with that," he said coldly, glaring past Misa. "Now if yeh'll excuse me –" He started forward again, but Misa intervened once more.

"But they're still your friends, Pat-kun shouldn't hurt his friends!" Misa said a bit frenetically. "It's only hair, it can be dyed back!"

"But that would involve him going out in public looking like he's molded a bag of cotton candy to his head," Don pointed out happily. "And I doubt _anyone_ in their right mind would want to –"

"Misa can dye hair!" said Misa as Pat pushed past her. He stopped in his tracks after only half a step, his expression changing suddenly and quite drastically from infuriated to intrigued. His eyebrows shot up and he turned around to face Misa.

"Can yeh?"

"Uh-huh," Misa said quickly, nodding. "But you might have to keep your hair like that for a little while if it was permanent dye…"

"It was," Don assured them. "Yeh've got two weeks, mate."

"But Misa has lots of wigs and hairpieces, Pat-kun could wear one when he has to leave the investigation headquarters."

"Actually, he might want to wear one at all times," Katherine said. "It's sor' of hard to take someone with a head full of cotton candy seriously. It would be horrible if yeh made a breakthrough on the Kira case looking like that, no one would pay it any attention."

This time it was Misa who shot Katherine a glare, but this was more of a warning than anything hateful. Quite simply, it said that Katherine wasn't making the job Misa had been assigned by her any easier, and she would be perfectly willing to egg Pat on in his originally planned idea of homicide if she kept it up. Katherine raised her hands in surrender at this, and then glared over at Don a moment later when she heard a cough that was obviously disguising a laugh come from his direction.

"Anyway," Misa said, now ignoring Katherine, "Kat-chan and Don-kun will probably _still_ be mean about it, but Pat-kun needs to follow Misa if he wants to fix his hair anyway."

"Gladly." And with that, Misa forcibly dragged away the pink-haired, now rather cheerful-looking Pat by the arm, already chattering about different styles of wigs. After watching them leave the room, Katherine heard Don sigh. She looked back at him as he was standing.

"Revenge never works quite right for me."

"At least we're not both dead," Katherine pointed out, also standing. "I suppose I'll be off to go make sure Pat doesn't suddenly switch back to his psychotic-Misa-stalker persona."

"Aye, good plan," Don said, already heading for the door. "Just be downstairs before the Yotsuba meeting starts, I think we all need to be there fer that."

Katherine nodded shortly in agreement. "Definitely."

* * *

It was at around seven o'clock that the investigation room monitors were switched over to the meeting room in the Yotsuba building. No one was there yet, but they could enter at any given moment, and the monitors needed to be on the room for when they did. It would also definitely be for the best if the room would stay quiet, of course. Unfortunately, the local distractions were all on speaking terms again. Don was the only one of them even remotely uncivil, and he was only being irritable because his revenge had turned out to be a blessing in disguise for its subject – Pat was in a much less murderous mood than earlier after spending around an hour of quality time with Misa, though the blonde usually had adverse effects on everyone else. The fact that he now had a means by which to cover the pink mass atop his head and had practically been stalking Misa by means of the monitors since he joined the investigation team had probably helped with that.

L gave an inward side as he half-glanced over his shoulder at the four members of the investigation team seated on the sofas and discussing forming a _band _after the end of the investigation. He picked up a few sugar cubes from a small bowl sitting in front of him and dropped them in his coffee cup. Not everything in life could be fair.

"At least they're not trying to kill each other now," Light said as he looked back as well, though he sounded just as agitated as the other three members of the investigation team who were still monitoring the Yotsuba building felt. "They could still take things a bit more seriously…. They've been more of a nuisance than a help since they got here."

"They have helped," L said, looking up at the monitors, "but most of their help has been with things I could have easily gotten done with my own resources. The only problem I might have had would have been with finding Misa a new manager at the current time."

"So two of them have been a help," Yagami said. "And what about the third? Pat has definitely been an issue. As you said yourself, Ryuzaki, the only things he has helped with thus far could have been done using your own resources. He takes the case the least seriously of the three of them, he's bound to get caught working for you eventually and Kira will trace him back to the investigation team."

"All three are suspects, Yagami-san," L said. "Now that they have seen our faces, letting any of them go is entirely out of the question. And if we did dispose of only one of them, the other two would almost certainly follow. I would say that with the amount of security in this building they would be incapable of escaping, but unfortunately, if Pat could manage to break in and get both himself and another as far as this room, he could also break others out undetected. He does have an advantage over my own comrades in that sense."

"Speaking of your comrades," Light said, "what do you plan to do if he discovers who they are?"

"I… am unsure as of right now," L admitted reluctantly. "However, there is barely a one percent chance that will happen." L had taken every precaution necessary to prevent any unnecessary meetings between Wedy and Pat, as they could (and probably would) end disastrously in some way, but nothing in this investigation seemed to be completely foolproof. The investigation building certainly wasn't an impenetrable fortress; it was simply a well-guarded building. No plans so far were entirely infallible either. Everything seemed to have an error somewhere. That meant there was a chance – even if it was only a chance of one percent, it was still a chance – that Pat could discover Wedy was a working member of the investigation team, and it would be a problem if any non-Kira-related deaths occurred over the course of the investigation.

"Yes, but any chance is still a chance," Yagami said.

The discussion dimmed all over the room at this moment, when the door leading into the meeting room on the monitors opened. Apparently the four sitting towards the back of the room had been paying better attention than they were letting off. First into the meeting room was Kida, and the last was Takahashi. Something was wrong, however. Something was missing. It became evident to everyone exactly what this was the moment each member of the group had found their one-of-eight armchairs in the room.

One of the chairs was empty.

Ooi was the first to speak, after surveying the other six members of the group. "I see everyone is here. Let's begin."

"But there are only seven of them, not eight," Yagami said.

"We shall commence our regular meeting," Ooi continued.

"Black suits and black ties, they're such a bunch of mafia wannabes…" Matsuda said as he looked up at the screen.

Don gave a hollow laugh. "They would hardly even qualify as wannabes."

"But only seven of them," Light pointed out. "That probably means they're in mourning."

"S… so one of the eight…"

"Has probably been killed by the others," L finished Yagami's sentence.

The room was again silent, so everyone heard Ooi's next sentence clearly:

"Let us discuss, for the brighter future of Yotsuba group…" He gave a quick look around the table, and continued, "… whom to kill."

For a moment after this, the silence in both the investigation room and Yotsuba's meeting room was utterly deafening.

* * *

_Oooh, lookit, the bloody comma is moving on the plot! Wow._

_But sucks that she cut it off at the beginning of such an important scene, no? Yeah, really does._

_Random questions, anyone? Yeah, why not.  
_

_Is L actually considering getting rid of Pat?_

_Will Wedy possibly stop by at any point in time? Been a question for the past few chapters, I know. You'll find out eventually._

_Will Don manage to think of a worthy revenge that won't end in benefit for Pat?_

_What will Pat, Don, Katherine, and Matsuda name their eventual band? Heck, I'm up for suggestions. Go on. Hit me up with some._

_Will I write an amazingly insane alternate universe Death Note parody? Actually, I'm already working on one! Yayness._

_Will Bloodstained Comma make sketches of her original characters out of boredom and a random urge to draw? Yeah, actually, I've already started them. And Pat's hair is a pain in the freaking ass to draw, I tell you what._

_Anywho, yeah. It's almost three in the morning now and I haven't slept since Friday night. Soooo. Off I go._

_BUT! Word of the day, first, is chinchilla, as suggested by SmileyPenguin. It's really quite fun to say. Go on, then. Say it. You know you want to._

_And the word of the year for 2009, as coined by ThreeBooksInTheFire (who also instated last years word as "blarghlbitz"), is Slartibartfast. If you don't know what it is, start reading Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series IMMEDIATELY, or at least watch the movie. Hilarious series? Hell yes.  
_


	41. Chapter 40: Ponderings

**_I'm about to do some story-whoring, people. Of my own newest story._**

_I'm working on a prequel to **King's Note**, following my OCs before they came to Japan to fight Kira, Death Note based.  
The dialogue might be a bit hard to read for some, as it takes place in Ireland and I do use Irish slang within the dialogue quite a bit. Apologies for that, but I do want to make it realistic. They can't be using American slang and accents if they're Irish, now, can they?  
The main-main character in the story is the little-mentioned Al from the first few chapters of this story, and he's quite a bit more important than you might guess.  
When I started working on the story, it was more or less a project for myself in order to develop my OCs more. But, it got a plot that involves death notes and shinigami and L and murder and all that good jaz, and so now it's a fanfiction.  
I've planned out the ENTIRE thing, timeline and all, right down to the day every important plot point occurs. Wonderful, no?  
The bad-person is Don's younger brother - who is never mentioned in **King's Note** for a reason that will be covered in this story.  
Would anyone like a summary?_

_**Summary**:  
Al is highly regarded as the best con artist in Ireland by many, and he takes quite a bit of pride in his hard-earned title. Even so, he still holds a steady job in the small town of Newmarket-on-Fergus working as a bartender for a local pub, if only because he enjoys the job and talking to drunk people is rather amusing. His rather nice (or as nice as it gets for an orphaned con artist) life is flipped around, however, when a few boys enter his pub and attempt to order a few pints using a fake ID, three teenagers going by the names Don, Sean, and Pat. They end up looking up to Al as a sort of a mentor in the ways of the streets, even as a sort of a father figure - Don and his younger brother Sean ran away from home two years earlier to escape their abusive drunkard of a father, and Pat just tags along with them for the hell of it despite his grandmother's wishes for him to live a safe, sheltered life. A year after meeting Al, Sean witnesses the brutal murder of his own mother behind the pub Al is working at. The gunman flees in one direction, and Sean runs in the other. Don, who is in the pub at the time, realizes that his brother is missing from the pub just before the gunshots ring out. He rushes to where they came from to find his mother dead and his brother nowhere to be found. After days of searching, he can't help but assume the worst for his brother. Sean, however, has simply fled to another town, afraid to go back. Left alone with his own thoughts and nightmares, facts become confused with fiction for the confused teenager, and delusions develop in his mind that lead him to believe he watched Al gun down his mother. He looks for some way to revenge. Meanwhile, a shinigami called Zerhogie (he **is** in Death Note, check the How To Read Character Guide in the shinigami section for him. If ya don't have it, you can check it out at onemanga"dot"com) has been keeping an eye on his planning out of curiosity. He decides to trick the Shinigami King into believing that he has filled his Death Note and needs a new one, and he succeeds. He delivers the death note to Sean to see what it will amount to, and Sean incorporates the note into his plan. He uses blackmail to get Al to follow a trail of murders he leaves across the country, though the murders are no ordinary murders; every death Sean causes is a brutal animal attack of some sort, making it impossible for anything to be traced to him. However, because Al funds everything with credit card scams and cons, L, who is following the case himself due to its odd subject matter and sheer amount of deaths, is able to track down Al as the main suspect. What exactly is Sean's plan for revenge? Will Al figure it out before it's too late? Will L discover the truth about who is really committing the murders, and how? Read away and find out!_

_It's rated M, as a warning in advance. For uber swearing and extreme violence, as well as touchy subject matter such as child abuse.  
What else to say? Not much.  
Except pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease check it out! It'll answer quite a few questions that may not get answered in this story surrounding my OCs, I promise!_

_Now, onward to the review replies._

_Vampire Note: I'll add it to the line-up. Today's is chinchilla, though :P  
Sparanda: Because it can't be the word of the year if it's word of eternity! :O I'll announce it at the end of the chapter.  
Stalker of Stories: Awesome - I could seriously use a beta reader, thanks for that. I usually type these up at about midnight going on nothing but caffeine, so I tend to make quite a few mistakes. I've edited the last chapter, I just haven't taken the time to repost the edited version yet. And as for the hair dye thing - I used permanent hair dye two days in a row before, and it did horrible - and I mean **horrible** - things to my hair. I think it just depends on the hair type. I can't dye my hair more than once a month without it getting fried. Ah, and when I rewrite it I'll be posting it as another story - under the same name, but the title will read **The King's Note rewrite** or something to that extent. I'll only post a chapter or two a week, if that, I won't just change all the chapters on this story all at the same time. That would be crazy.  
ThreeBooksInTheFire: Wootness for fummins! Haha, seriously XD. Come to think, in fact, I think he might be part Martian. He's got those really crazy big eyes like the stereotypical three foot tall green aliens have. He was looking for his long lost cousin there :P Oh, I've never read that manga - I had to wikipedia it to figure out what it was, lol. Is it any good?  
Madeline Cullen: Yeah, let's not beat up the pandapuppy. He knows some seriously crazy martial arts. Just ask Light, he's gotten a foot to the face more than once XD Stealing his candy miiight work, as long as you don't get caught at it :P  
Princesa de la Luna: Thanks for the review, and I'd check out the other stories, but I have't heard of either of the mangas they're based on - I haven't got much spare time as it is, and the little I do have is spent playing guitar and working on this story. I might get around to checking out those series, but probably not soon. I wish I could help, sorry about that.  
Marisol Akyri: But Matsuda's the most awesome ditz ever :( lol. I probably show him too much love, but he's the comic relief character in Death Note, and I like comic relief characters :P  
Xer0-sama: Aah, I already had the lineup. Pat's got the vocals, as Don can only sing (and will only sing, for that matter) when he's had quite a bit of tequila beforehand. Matsuda and Katherine had already figured out their spots in earlier chapters - Matsuda's got lead guitars, and Katherine's got drums. Don's going to be doing bass guitar. And I was thinking of the name being either that or just Legally Dead.  
Raine44354: Don't feel bad, neither do I, lol - just look at all the multi-chapter fics I've got on here, that's a dead giveaway right there XD And whoa, lmao when did L turn into a sex machine? O.o I might have to have a talk with him about that later.  
Sybil Corvax: I felt sooo bad for writing that, but it was still too goshdern amusing XD  
Usagi323: I should be updating a lot more often than I have been :)_

_Now, this chapter is mostly just a retelling of what happened in the same chapter/episode of Death Note, but chapters like that are necessary sometimes to progress the story. Of course with added characters, but not much has changed except for a bit of dialogue. The next chapter will be more interesting, I promise.  
_

* * *

"See, just like I told you!"

In truth, everyone in the investigation had expected Matsuda to be the one to break the silence there. He had wanted his very own _I-told-you-so_ moment whether he would admit it or not; he had been the one to discover what was going on with Yotsuba firsthand due to his idiotic blunder. But regardless of Matsuda's triumph, it wasn't good, not at all. Kira's plan was moving forward all too smoothly. He had considered every possibly circumstance. The fact that L and Katherine could both see Shinigami, that they both knew for a fact who the Kira to form this plan had been, wasn't going to help in the least little bit.

Ooi continued on after his momentary pause now, breaking the silence in the other room and bringing a hush over the investigation team once again. "However, there are a few things we need to discuss before we move on. For instance, the death of Hatori."

"It couldn't be helped. Frankly, I was relieved to hear the news of Hatori's death." This silenced the room again for the moment as the other six turned their heads to look at Namikawa, all rather inquiringly. Takahashi voiced what was no doubt the general thought around the room.

"What's wrong with you, Namikawa? You were relieved to hear your own colleague was dead?"

Namikawa sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "I believe it was a logical enough action for Kira to take, to show us what awaits us if we wish to pull ourselves away from this group. I had honestly hoped this would happen from the moment Hatori spoke of his wish to leave at our special meeting on Tuesday."

Silence rang out again as everyone took a moment to think this over. After a few long seconds, Ooi gave a short nod of agreement. "Yes…" he said slowly. "I believe we all know the meaning of Hatori's death, and we would all do good to keep it in mind. Next, the report from Erald Coil."

"So," Higuchi said, picking up a couple sheets of paper from in front of him on the table, as everyone else did, "this is the investigation we paid five million dollars for…"

"According to this, L is working on his own without any country backing him," Kida said, skimming quickly through the first page and flipping over to the second. "Japan police have pulled out of the Kira investigation, and while other countries are investigating, they're only doing so on their own soil. It's still unlikely L will give up his investigation at this point, having supposedly moved to Japan after Kira was determined to be in the Kanto region."

"What the hell does he mean, 'supposedly?'" Higuchi asked impatiently, flipping back and forth between pages of his copy of the report. "He should be certain about something that could be useful to us, like the name and face of L…"

Katherine took a seat at one of the empty chairs as they listened to the discussion of "Erald Coil's" report in silence. There was still no shinigami in the meeting room, meaning that whichever one of them was Kira had almost definitely made it stay behind, meaning he knew someone on the investigation team could see shimigami and was taking no chances. So far, the most likely candidates in Katherine's eyes were Higuchi and Namikawa, possibly Ooi. Higuchi seemed most likely just because of how particularly impatient he was with the reports. However, Namikawa's complete indifference to the death of Hatori, seeing it as more of a relief than anything else, almost made him seem likely – Kira would have definitely been relieved to have someone opposing his authority dead, even if the death was at his own hand. He and Ooi both seemed to have a fairly strong influence over the group, and anyone with a strong influence over the goings on in those meetings could be a suspect. Though Higuchi didn't seem very influential himself, he was still exactly the type of scumbag that the new Kira seemed likely to be.

The least likely would be the most nervous, and in this case that seemed to be Shimura and Takahashi, both of whom were particularly careful with their choice of words. Shimura seemed jumpy in general, but the look of utter disbelief he had given Ooi when he switched the subject away from Hatori's death after less than a minute of discussion on the manner definitely helped his case. Like Hatori had apparently been, it was quite obvious Shimura wanted next to nothing to do with the group, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut about it. Perhaps he wouldn't have been if Hatori hadn't been the first to speak. And then Takahashi, while he seemed at least a bit untrustworthy just based on first impression, was definitely too nervous about matters to be Kira. Midou and Kida both also seemed unlikely, but at least a bit more likely than Takahashi or Shimura. Katherine would have been perplexed if Kira was any one of those four.

"Now we move onto the main subject. Whom to kill?" Katherine snapped herself out of her ponderings to look back up at the screen now.

"Well, Elf Insurance is planning to launch in Japan," Midou said. "If that isn't stopped, then Yotsuba and many other strictly Japanese companies will lose quite a few clients."

"We'll pick the leading figures in this project and have them all die in an accident," Kida said. "It's an American company, so they'll die in America, leaving no visible connection between the accident and us. Besides, we aren't the only company that will gain from their deaths."

"Then in regards of Elf, we will ask for accidental deaths of those names," Ooi said. "Agreed?"

"Agreed," the other six around the table agreed.

After discussion of a couple more names, the group began discussing when they should ask Kira to act. There was no doubt Yotsuba was it, but they still only had circumstantial evidence. They would need more solid evidence than simply a group of seven Yotsuba employees discussing what would be done.

"Kira… accidental deaths… specification of a date and time… this has to be it," Light said. "Everything is exactly what we thought it would be."

"Unfortunately, no arrests can be made until the names mentioned actually die," L said. "Until that time, the evidence we have is still insufficient…. However, if we continue to observe the actions of these seven during and after the meeting, and watch the actions they take closely until those mentioned do die, then we will catch Kira without fail."

"R… Ryuzaki!"

L nearly dropped a spoonful of ice cream at the sudden yells from Light and his father directly behind him. He looked over his shoulder at the two. "What?"

"Your method is wrong, Ryuzaki," Light said.

"We can't let you do what you're planning."

_Here we go…_ L thought with an inward sigh, looking back up at the monitors of the Yotsuba group.

"You intend to let them kill someone else in order to get to Kira in order to establish evidence that would hold up in court without any more backing that we already have," Light said.

"Look, it's clear enough that those seven are committing the murders. This videotape and Matsuda's testimony will be enough to prove it. Letting them commit another murder is out of the question."

"I haven't said anything about letting them commit a murder yet," L said. "We won't be able to arrest them at all unless one of those two dies, not legally… well… I suppose that isn't important, but we can't arrest any of them at this point."

"Think about it, Ryuzaki. Those people they're planning to kill aren't even criminals. We can't pretend we haven't heard anything. Those seven are evidently responsible for the deaths happening around Yotsuba."

"…So, Yagami-kun, you _do_ believe killing criminals is justified?"

"I didn't mean that – don't stray from the point.

"While I _hate _to interrupt such an _enlightening_ discussion, we still 'aven't got a fecking clue which one of them actually _is_ Kira," Pat pointed out. "Only _one_ of those seven is responsible for the deaths surrounding Yotsuba, the other six are bein' 'eld against their will an' made to help. Yeh can tell that at least a few o' them don' even want to be there, just from watchin' them. They're practically hostages. Arrestin' all seven o' them would be like arrestin' both the burglars and the tellers involved in a bank robbery – yeah, they gave up the bank's money illegally, but they 'ad a fecking gun to their head, wha' else're they supposed to do?"

"We still can't wait around to find out and let more people get killed," Light said. "If we take all seven into custody, we would have a better chance of discovering which one is Kira through direct interrogation."

"… request Zenzai for this weekend, and Elf for three weeks after," Ooi was saying on the monitors, "though spreading them out alone doesn't solve the problem…"

"This weekend, they'll be committing one of the murders sometime between tonight and tomorrow afternoon," Yagami said. "This isn't good…"

"Light-kun, do we have the mobile numbers for all seven?" L asked.

"Yeah, we could have their calls intercepted with police assistance."

"The police aren't our allies anymore," L reminded him. "They might notify Yotsuba of the interception."

"That is true…"

"It doesn't matter which one, but we need to call one of them and stop them from doing this!" Yagami said, flipping his own phone open.

"Hold on," L said, looking over his shoulder at Yagami. "We can't do that. They'll figure out that the investigation reached them only a few days after Aiber contacted them. It would look suspicious. Besides that, it will make it nearly impossible to find Kira and pin him down then – it would send us back to square one, all our efforts would be wasted. We need to obtain evidence that proves Kira's existence in order to catch him…"

"But saving a human life still has priority," Light said. "Listen to what you're saying, Ryuzaki."

"Besides, if Kira can kill a person just by wishing it so, then there won't be any evidence to find," Yagami said.

L shook his head, picking up a cup of coffee from the desk in front of him. "If we conduct our investigation deliberately and carefully, we will find evidence, because it is there to be found."

"What makes you so sure?" Yagami asked.

Before L could begin to answer, someone rather unlikely spoke up. "Because Kira killed Lind L. Taylor and the FBI agents." Most of the heads in the room turned to Matsuda at this. He crossed his arms, eyes inclined towards the ceiling as he thought. "Kira killed someone posing as L, and the FBI agents that were also searching for him, which means the evidence must exist. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to kill them, because he wouldn't have had any worries about them finding any evidence that _could_ incriminate him, and he would have been fine with leaving them to search for him with the assurance that he couldn't be found." He looked back down at the investigation team, and looked surprised to see all of the incredulous stares he was receiving for the deduction. "That's what Aizawa-san told me," he admitted with a laugh, scratching the back of his head. "I finally understood what he meant by it a few days ago."

"I see…" Yagami said. "But for now, we still don't know which of those seven is Kira, or even if one of them actually is – there still could be a possibility one of them is simply connected with Kira. To save Mr. Zenzai's life, we must allow them to know that our investigation has reached them."

"Of course…" L said resignedly. "There's no other way, saving a human life comes before pinning down Kira…"

"We'd probably be better off just letting them kill the bastard," Katherine said, cradling her head sideways as she looked up at the monitors. "They'll just start being more careful if they know they're suspected, and then it'll take us even longer to find Kira, so the end result would be even more people dying."

"Not necessarily," Light said. Katherine raised an eyebrow at him, and then rolled her eyes when he didn't elaborate to look back up at the monitors. "Ryuzaki, if Kira is among those seven, then the possibility of me calling one of them and Kira answering the call would be one in seven, correct?"

"Hmm? I was thinking more along the lines of two at the most, so let's say two in seven."

"Right. Then I'll have to place my bet on that," he said. "I'm going to need to borrow your name, Ryuzaki." He looked up at the monitors. "From what we've seen, the one among them who is least like what we would expect Kira to be and has the greatest influence over the others is…"

After a short pause, L and Light both said, "Namikawa," at the exact moment Matsuda chose to point out Ooi. Outnumbered, however, he gave up his thought immediately, allowing L to continue. "Use the phone here if you are going to make a call," L said, indicating the phone attached to the desk. "The phones installed here have been made untraceable and tap-proof." L half-glared over his shoulder when he heard Pat scoff in response to the sentence, but refrained from saying anything.

Light dialed a number on the phone and the investigation team watched in silence as the meeting was interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone. Namikawa mumbled an apology as he took out his cell phone, examined the caller ID for a moment, and flipped it open. "Yes?"

"Are you Reiji Namikawa, head of the first sales division of Yotsuba Group?"

"I am indeed."

"Good. Give me occasional responses while you listen to me."

"Oh? What's this?"

"This is L." Namikawa looked slightly shocked for a moment, but quickly regained his composure quickly, obviously not at all keen on letting the other six what was going on. "Within that room are cameras and microphones I've had set up. The entire meeting has been recorded, starting with the discussion over the death of Hatori and onto the decision over whom to murder. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes…" he said after a short pause.

"If you are not Kira or directly connected to Kira, then I have a proposal. Let's make a deal. Postpone the killing of Zenzai and the president of Elf for one month. I do not believe that should be too difficult for you to do."

"Okay. Sure."

"If you can promise to do that and cooperate with us from here on out, then what all but Kira himself or whichever of you is connected has done will be overlooked. Only Kira will be prosecuted, I will not question any of you that have been forced to cooperate with him on the murders that have been committed."

"I see…"

"If you discuss this conversation with the others, then it will only create chaos. In that case, I will show none of you mercy and you will all be caught. My only concern is to meet Kira in single combat. If L wins, you will not be charged. If Kira wins, you will continue with your wealthy life. Regardless of the outcome, there will be no loss for you. However, if you are caught now, it will be a great loss. The best thing for you to do now is play along with both sides and watch what happens. I expect you to act upon my instruction before the current meeting ends."

Light hung up the phone at this, leaving Namikawa to quickly formulate a plan. "Y… yes, next Monday then. Fine." And with that, Namikawa snapped his own phone shut. The first to begin the inevitable questioning was Ooi.

"What was that about, Namikawa? Who was it?"

"Hmm?" he said disinterestedly, stowing away his phone. "Nothing important, one of my men made a mess for me to clean up on Monday. Sorry for the interruption. Now, back to the subject at hand. How about this? We will give Coil a month to work on L, and if no progress is made by the end of the month, we will kill several at random dates, then give it another month, and continue this way until we actually get rid of L. Once L is removed, we will go back to two or three weekly. This means that we prioritize dealing with L."

Silence fell over the table, but it didn't seem to be a nervous or awkward one. They were all thinking about the idea, going over it to see what made sense and if anything needed to be change. Namikawa didn't look exactly comfortable, but given the fact that Kira was most likely in the room with him, one slip-up meant he would meet the same fate as Hatori. After a long moment, Midou spoke.

"I see…" he said slowly. "If we can get Coil to find L, we can kill him and have no more obstacles to worry about. We should move cautiously until then."

"Hmm…. That could work," Ooi agreed.

"Having some insurance can't hurt," Higuchi said.

"Then we will give Coil a month and continue with our meeting every two weeks. That seems to be all for today."

Once the meeting room was again empty, the monitors were switched back to their normal setting of Misa and Katherine's apartment. The investigation team remained silent for a moment afterwards. Despite her normal Light-bashing tendencies, even Katherine had to admit that had been a good idea. There was no doubt that everyone in the room agreed – and judging by the look on L's face, there was no doubt that the detective had every intention of using the idea to his own benefit. He was planning _something_; she could practically see the gears turning at much-too-fast speeds inside his head, cooking up another of his spontaneous plans.

"That was indeed a good plan, Yagami-kun," L said, breaking the silence in the room. "This way, the death is both postponed and we will be able to obtain information from Namikawa. Your method is similar to mine, and you had the idea before I did. Maybe after I die, Yagami-kun could assume the name of L."

* * *

_In case you didn't see it in the beginning, I'm going to re-whore me **King's Note Prequel**.  
It's called **Animalistic Tendencies**. Comma will be quite happy if you read it and review it and stuff!  
The first chapter is a prologue just for background - it won't get into the actual storyline until chapter 2.  
But it basically explains how everyone (the OCs, I mean) met and got into the wonderful world of criminal activity.  
The main purpose of the story is basically going to be to explain exactly what caused Al to meet his unfortunate fate in this story. He was only wanted for murder; he never actually committed one.  
So, read! Please? I'll give you all a bunch of fummins!_

_Not doing any questions this time, sorry. I'm busy working on the next chapter of Animalistic Tendencies at the moment, and once I finish that it's off to bed with me, because I'm bloody tired._

_However, word of the day:  
Chinchilla.  
_

_And, just for clarification, the word of ETERNITY is fummins.  
It cannot be changed unless Chuck Norris wishes it to be so._

_Oh, and by the way, due to new research done in the Kira case that was never previously released, it has been confirmed that Namikawa is, indeed, Dracula in a rather ineffective disguise. I will give you more information on the subject at a later date.  
Just so's ya all know._


	42. Chapter 41: Doubt

_Another chapter. My lack of updates for five days has led to this chapter being nearly one thousand words longer than usual, so hopefully that makes up for my short absence. Not that it's an excuse, but I was **going** to update Thursday or Friday, but my step-dad wasn't at home Thursday night or Friday night so I sorta stayed up all night playing guitar._

_And Guitar Hero._

_Sorry! I don't mean to be so easily distracted. But on the upside, I learned "Attack of the Mad Axeman" by Michael Schenker on guitar. Wootness, anyone?_

_Yeah, anyway. Since I was mean and didn't update and stuff, I'll reply to my kind commenters._

_Raine44354: I know, that was the irony of it. He can't die, but no one knows that yet O.O  
Sparanda:__ Yeah, that coding thing totally sucked, I had to go back and delete all the weird numbers and symbols and whatnot manually. All fixed, though. So was the name error. Thaat was a slight whoops, thanks for pointing that out.  
Stalker of Stories: Wootness, no grammatical errors :)  
Sybil Corvax: Just my suspicion coming into view. Seriously, how could Namikawa not be Dracula? He's got the widow's peak and the long hair and whole evil thing going and everything.  
ThreeBooksInTheFire: My brother might be getting an actual Chinchilla as a pet soon. I'm going to steal it from him XD Ah, don't ignore the chapter :( The plot sorta has to move along sometime...  
Princesa de la Luna: Thanks :)  
Takun123: Also thank you__  
Starfire54: Wootness, I helped someone not give up on Death Note fics XD I feel important now, lol. Thanks for the review :)_

_Ah, and again, people, **PLEASE** have a look at my prequel to this story. It's called **Animalistic Tendencies**. It still only has one review and it's beginning to make me slightly sad. It's mostly OC to start with (the OCs from THIS story), and L is quite important in it later on. Please**pleasePLEASE** look at it. Please?  
_

* * *

In the silence that followed this, Katherine couldn't even cough to cover a laugh without looking suspicious, so she chose to go for the option of just holding her breath. When he died? He certainly wasn't going to die in the course of the Kira case – unless it was from diabetes or something sugar-related, but that would be his own fault. He was protected; everyone on the investigation team was protected, except for Pat and Don because the assholes wouldn't give her their real names. Al would still be alive if _he_ hadn't been so stubborn about it. Even Aiber and Wedy – though she had been very much against that idea, and had rather just wanted to write _her_ real name in the note with a description of a very painful death beneath it – were protected from death by Kira. L still had the note, hence why Wedy was still living – she had simply had him do the job for her, so she wouldn't have to worry about being tempted to kill anyone she couldn't stand. Wedy and Aiber's identities had been easy to find, in comparison to Pat or Don, who had both been training in the department of covering their tracks from the time they were ten and fourteen. Al had for even longer than that, but recklessness never paid anyone very well in the end.

"Don't say things like that," said Light in a rather annoyed manner. "We have one month to find out who Kira is now, and to get the evidence we need to prosecute him. It isn't over yet."

"Right…" L said. "However, the first to suspect Yotsuba was Yagami-kun. Perhaps you are indeed more capable than I am."

There indeed was a snort of laughter at that, but not from Katherine – everyone looked around to see a rather suspicious looking Pat pointing at Don, who was glaring in response. L went on anyway, ignoring the distraction.

"If I was to die," he said, looking at Light, "would you take the position?"

"What are you saying, Ryuzaki? As long as we're wearing this –" Light held up his left arm to indicate the handcuff around it. "– won't we be dying together?" He paused, waiting for L's response. When L was silent, Light's expression quite suddenly became rather angered – he made use of his long forgotten Kira-glare as he looked down at L, understanding the detective's apparent motives. "I see…" He said quietly. "I apologize, Ryuzaki, but I am going to tell everyone here your exact thoughts right now. You are thinking that either I am Kira and I'm pretending not to know, or I was Kira and I passed on my power to someone else, so I now have no recollection of being him. For the first pattern, you can never take this handcuff off, and I may never go free. Even for the second, you wouldn't take the handcuff off, because you believe that I was Kira at one point, and that the power will eventually return to me, and that I plan to regain that power when everyone is convinced of my innocence. You think I will become Kira if I take the position of L."

That wasn't exactly L's train of thought. He knew the answer to the question already – Light Yagami had been Kira, and he had forfeited his death note. He had seen this happen himself. However, if he was going to be playing dumb on that particular subject, he would still have to act as he would if he didn't know, if he was still under the belief that Light could be Kira at that very moment and simply be hiding it. Had that been the situation, Light would have been correct in his deductions. As only one other person knew that L was sure of who Kira had been and who he would become, the rest of the investigation team would have to believe that Light's deductions were indeed accurate.

"Yes. That is correct."

"On one had, to reach the same level as L, to be able to manipulate the police. And on the other, to be Kira. That would indeed be invincibility. With this, you know I'm not pretending."

"As in… you would not be willing to reveal your plan to everyone if you were planning to take the position of L."

"Then if L was to die and I lived," Light said, "and then Kira appeared, you would have a third party like Watari determine that I am Kira. If that's the case, you believe I have no memories of being Kira."

"That is correct. I cannot see any of the way."

"Ryuzaki." Light grabbed the back of L's computer chair and turned it around. Katherine, seeing possible impending danger because of Light's tone, slid her own chair away slightly. If L said something Light didn't like (which was likely), then there was no doubt what the result of _this_ would be. "Do you think that after the current Kira was caught… after that, I would become Kira, a murderer? Do you see me as that kind of person?"

L appeared to give this a moment of thought – no more than a moment. He answered, unblinkingly, "I think so and I can see you as such."

Katherine moved her chair a little further away, and in good time. L and Light reacted only a second later and at the same time, Light out of utter annoyance and L out of reflex. Light's punch hit at the exact moment L's kick did. Katherine flinched slightly at the sight, as it seemed most others around the room did – the two of them would be lucky if they both got out of this without anything broken – in Light's case, his jaw, and in L's case, his nose. While everyone else stared in either confusion, amusement, shock, or a combination of the three, Matsuda apparently chose to act momentarily as a referee.

"All right, you both hit at the same time. Let's just call it a draw; it's over now."

"Y… yeah," Light agreed after a moment. Naturally, the discussion went back on track, as though there had never been a disturbance. The only sign were the rather nasty-looking bruises forming on the faces of both L and Light. "Anyway. Right now, we need to catch the Kira that is right in front of us, and that should be easy enough to do at this point. If Namikawa is Kira, the murders could possibly stop right now."

"But wouldn't it be hard to extract evidence from Namikawa, then?" Matsuda asked.

L shook his head. "Namikawa is probably not Kira. He is high in position and has some wisdom – if it was him, he probably would have acted on his own."

"If we capture these seven using the conference as evidence, then wouldn't it end without criminals having to be killed, either?"

"I apologize…. We can't say for certain that one of those seven is Kira. It could still be the case that one or two of them are merely connected to Kira, in which case arresting all seven of them would not stop the murders. If we are not absolutely sure that Kira is among those seven, then it would be pointless to capture them now."

"If you can't say for sure that one of them is _not_ Kira, then there is still a chance capturing all of them could stop the deaths," Yagami reasoned.

"That's true," Light agreed. "There is still that chance."

"Correct, you _might_ be able to stop the deaths of the convicts," L said slowly.

That set them off into planning mode for a moment. "Then putting human lives as our top priority, we should capture those seven," Yagami said.

"But chief, that won't be easy. The police aren't cooperating with us anymore. It would be better to get both Kira and the evidence, like Ryuzaki said…." It was a bit strange to hear Matsuda agreeing with anyone but Yagami on anything in the Kira case.

"No, what's important is stopping the number of victims, even if it's only one," Yagami disagreed.

"Actually," L interrupted, "I am going to pursue Kira on my own." L took advantage of the sudden silence to continue. "I will lend the headquarters to Yagami-san's group, and I will use it as well. If we don't investigate separately, we would only begin quarrelling. With the limited amount of time we have to find Kira before the deaths begin again, it is better that we don't waste our time on pointless arguments."

"Then Ryuzaki, you intend to capture Kira on your own by pressuring him," Yagami said.

"Yes."

"Even if we are dealing with convicts, we are still dealing with the lives of people."

"I know that," L said. "But it is still uncertain that the deaths would end upon the capturing of those seven."

"There is still a possibility that would stop it, and we should do what we can to prevent the murders before they happen."

"Yagami-san's way of thinking is mostly correct. If you wish to capture those seven, then please go ahead and capture them. I will focus only on catching Kira. If we do not capture Kira, this case will never be solved. I am not saying that stopping the deaths of the convicts is worthless. However, if everything is not made clear, then Kira will appear again. In the long run, the number of deaths would only increase. I am still against the arrest of those seven. If you are to do it, then it is Yagami-san's responsibility." L was standing from his seat now. He continued as he began heading towards the door at the other side of the room, dragging a rather unwilling Light behind him. "I will pursue Kira on my own. The time limit is one month…. It all depends upon who works faster."

"Where are you going?" Light asked incredulously from the other side of the room.

"To Misa-san's room. I'm sorry, though I know you are on your father's side, the handcuffs cannot be removed. I will have to have you tag along."

After an uncomfortable silence swept through the room, Yagami seemed to regain himself, immediately assigning research work to Matsuda and Mogi, both of whom complied. Matsuda still looked slightly uncertain about things, after having (probably for the first time in the investigation) stuck up for L's opinion over Yagami's. Katherine turned around and raised her eyebrows when the ex police chief asked her what side she was taking.

She crossed her arms. "Hmm. I wonder," she answered sarcastically. "Look, what do you plan on doing if you do find a legal way to catch those seven and they all die of heart attacks the next day?" Yagami's brow furrowed.

"That…. If that is the case, then this will have been a mistake. It seems likely that Kira is among them, however."

"And you're willing to risk the lives of seven innocent _hostages _if Kira isn't among them? If one of them is only _working for_ Kira, then Kira would be very disappointed if he discovered his spokesperson had failed," she said. "Seven lives lost because Kira didn't need them anymore. If not one of those seven is Kira, then they're technically all hostages, aren't they? If that's the case, you may as well walk into their meeting room and shoot each one of them in the head, as arresting them would have the same basic effect. I'm with Ryuzaki on this one. You can do what you want." She glanced at Pat and Don. "You two?"

Don shrugged. "Highest bidder." Katherine rolled her eyes at his sarcastic tone.

"You have enough money between the two of you to buy an entire country."

"Maybe we're going for a continent. Really, we've already followed you to Japan, what's the point breaking off here?"

Katherine shrugged in response. "Just checking."

She looked back up at the monitors, at Misa's room, just as Light and L were entering it. L was already working on a plan to manipulate Light over to his side, using Misa as both leverage and a tool to gain information. That was clear enough. She wasn't completely sure of what he was planning, but it would be revealed here.

She found focusing a bit hard, however. If her thoughts on the matter were nearly right – and given how confused she was, the chances she was or wasn't were close to equal, though the _wasn't_ side was probably weighing out the _was_ side a bit – Kira probably wasn't among the seven Yotsuba suspects. Shinigami were supposed to follow the holders of their death notes regardless of orders, as she understood it. Therefore, she should have seen Rem by now, but she hadn't seen the shinigami floating around behind any of them. Perhaps Kira _was_ someone from the outside looking in – Light could have told her to drop the death note for someone who could manipulate some major business, since he knew she could see shinigami. He seemed to have trusted her when she told him, when he had been Kira, that she was on his side, but… it was a reckless move, even for her. She did regret it quite a bit now, even if it had gotten her information on Light's plan. The information wasn't helping now. Ironically, it was quite hindering to know ninety percent of what was going on, and not being able to do anything about it without the few missing pieces she needed. It was frustrating, no doubt L thought so as well. Otherwise he wouldn't have broken the investigation team into two individual sides with two very different plans.

* * *

Katherine stayed up well after everyone but L and Light had gone to their flats, then even after Light, who had managed to pester L into letting him off the hook (or off the handcuff, in his case) under the condition that he would be supervised along with the other suspects. Of course he didn't need to be supervised, Katherine thought with a scowl at the laptop she was working on, having relocated to the sofa with it quite some time ago. No, he wasn't Kira, not at the moment, but he would be again. He couldn't do anything except kill those two idiot friends of hers who wouldn't give up their names no matter how much she badgered them.

She shut the laptop in annoyance and laid it on the small table between the two sofas. He couldn't kill any member of the investigation team except them. He _could_ kill Aiber and Wedy at the moment, but Katherine had just spent the last few hours discovering their names. Old grudges or not, she couldn't let Wedy keel over from a heart attack just out of spite, and she had no issues with Aiber. A couple more years off of her life shouldn't amount to much, and she wasn't really worried about it anyway.

She would have traded whatever she had left to keep those complete _idiots_ alive. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if either of them died, not after dragging them both into it. Pat had been willing enough – he despised Kira from the beginning. Most criminals did. Al had just needed an excuse to leave the country before the "murders" he had supposedly committed caught up with him, and they definitely would have, had he stayed. Don hadn't been as easy to convince. Pat had about zero common sense to begin with. Al had always been better than all three of them as far as common sense went, but he needed to get our regardless of where he was going. Don had therefore been the only one to disagree. He was smart enough to see where it could all go wrong, but regardless, he wasn't going to stay behind if Katherine, Pat, and Al agreed to go. He was perfectly willing to work in the investigation now, and would no doubt gladly shoot Kira in the face if he came into direct contact with him, but he hadn't been quite so willing in the beginning. He was only in it now for retribution – he and Al had been like brothers, and he wasn't going to let Kira get away with what he had done without a fight.

A hand slid the laptop off of the table quite suddenly – it almost made Katherine jump, but she figured out who it was in an instant and managed not to. The couch sank slightly next to her, but she kept her eyes straight forward, still in a rather irritated mood. The irritation faded, and then disappeared rather quickly, giving way to curiosity when she realized there were no sounds of overenthusiastic typing next to her. There was only silence. When she glanced over, she saw she was being eyed rather cautiously. L apparently took the glance as consent to speak aloud.

"You don't seem happy." She smiled wryly at the blatant observation, and at the way he seemed to be very cautiously selecting his words.

"I'm just a little irritated with Pat and Don." Her smile became amused as she looked over at him. "Did you think you were in trouble for something?"

"No…" he said slowly, his eyes still cautious. "Am I?"

Katherine laughed. Oblivious as always. At least it cheered her up a little. "No, not at the moment. You haven't sent anymore annoying blonds to live with me and you haven't kicked me off the investigation team recently, so you should be all right for now." She reached into her pocket and retrieved the piece of paper she had written down Aiber and Wedy's names upon. She unfolded it and handed it to him. He took the page, looked at it for a moment, and the caution in his eyes turned to slight confusion. "I'm guessing you'd like to keep your con artist and your burglar for a while longer?"

His head tilted to the side slightly. "Aiber and Wedy."

"I've been researching. We don't know who Kira is right now, so everyone's in danger."

"I wouldn't think you would want to protect Wedy," he mused, folding the paper and putting it back in his own pocket. "I didn't perceive any of your feelings towards her as being remotely friendly."

Katherine scowled. "There's a reason you have my death note at the moment. I can assure you that Spy Barbie would be due to die a _very_ painful death by now if I still had it."

"You have already sacrificed six years of your own life for the sake of keeping the investigation team safe," L pointed out. Katherine shrugged.

"A couple more couldn't hurt, then.

"You don't know how many you have left."

"Maybe I'll replenish a few after the Kira case is done with. Kidding," she added when L gave her a questioning look. "Do you think you could get that done without Light knowing what you're doing?"

"Yes. He requires quite a bit more sleep than I do."

"Everyone in the world requires more sleep than you do," Katherine said, laughing. It trailed off to a sigh towards the end. She looked at L. "If it wasn't for the fact that you're already protected by my death note, I'd say that Kira would probably be more likely to win at this point. We don't even really know if he's one of the seven in the Yotsuba group."

"And if we arrest all seven of them and none of them are, Kira could kill all of them," L agreed. "The situation isn't playing out in our favor even though we do know what is happening."

"Yeah, I know…. And I tried telling Yagami that arresting those seven could just get them killed, he wouldn't listen. Why didn't you tell him? He might have listened _then_."

"Both because Yagami-san is set in his ways – he thinks that he is right without a doubt – and because it will be much easier to work without worries of argument over whose method is better. I have always preferred to work alone in the past for that reason. It was mostly to protect my identity, but I also didn't want to endure arguing over anyone else's opinion when I knew my methods would work."

"So you're not going to let me work with you at all after the Kira case is over? I'm so hurt."

"Regardless of whether you are being sarcastic or not, that would not be out of the question. Your thinking patterns are rather similar to mine and you don't have to worry about protecting your identity, given that you don't have one."

"I do too!" she said defensively. "I have quite a few, in fact."

"Given that you don't have a _real_ one," L corrected himself.

"That's a bit better." Katherine sighed and tilted her head over to rest it on his shoulder. "But quit lying to yourself." L looked down at her curiously. "You know it's only because you'd miss me too much."

He shrugged with his shoulder that wasn't being used as a makeshift pillow. "Again regardless of your sarcasm, that is also a possibility." She smiled at the awkward edge to his voice and lifted her head off his shoulder. She looked over at him and his head turned as well.

"You still aren't used to this, are you?" she asked, still smiling.

He blinked a few times, his owlish eyes slightly puzzled. "Sorry."

She shook her head, then leaned closer to him and gently pressed her lips to his for a moment. He seemed to tense slightly for half a second, but he relaxed quickly enough before she pulled away. "You don't have to apologize," she assured him, reaching a hand up to entwine it in a few of his ebony tresses. "I think it's cute." She moved his arm and shifted closer to him, then rested her head on his shoulder and looked up at the monitors of her and Misa's flat. She sighed. "Do you have any idea why she's waiting up for me?"

L also looked up at the monitors, where Misa could be seen asleep on one of the sofas in the front room. There was absolutely no doubt in whom she was waiting for, but Katherine was at a lack of figuring out why. When L shrugged, she knew that she wasn't going to figure it out unless she went up there herself. She shook her head.

"Looks like I'll be sleeping out here, then," she said. "I don't trust any scheme of hers, and she's obviously scheming something."

"It looks more like she's sleeping."

"You don't know Misa as well as I do. She can scheme in her sleep." Perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, but Misa had obviously been planning some sort of ambush before she fell asleep. That meant she would be sleeping rather lightly, and would pop up quite animatedly the moment the door opened. Not that there was really any chance that she could have been sleeping very heavily in a corset. Such a feat seemed impossible.

Katherine migrated to the other couch after about an hour of watching L research the Kira case and the results turn out as unsuccessful as they seemed to have been turning out in the past weeks. She could hardly hold her eyes open, and going up to her flat with Misa still on the couch was out of the question. The blonde could be _quite_ scary when she wanted to be, and there was truly no telling what sort of ambush she would be in for if she ventured into that apartment. She shook her head at the monitors as she lay down on the empty sofa, facing its back. Sleeping out here, away from the blonde demon, would be worth the possible backache in the morning.

* * *

_Yeah, Misa can be demonic when she wants to be. Don't mess with her._

_Sooo. Things aren't really looking up for the investigation team(s) at the moment, which seriously sucks. Blatant errors in judgement were made and while it got more information in the long run, it's just turning out sucky-like now, which... sucks. My lack of vocabulary at the moment is due to all the makeup work I've got piled up for school for all the time I missed for personal reasons. I'm being homeschooled at the moment, so I've got extra time on my hands due to how fast I can work, it just sorta makes my vocabulary... uh, suck. Yeah. I'm no longer a living breathing thesaurus. I am when I get into writing chapters, which helps, but as just Comma, I sorta... okay, don't make me say the word "suck" again. Ugh._

_And I will use this line to again whore my story **Animalistic Tendencies**. Have a look at it. You know you want to._

_Okay, done with that._

_Soooooooooo will Pat and Don stop being stubborn and give up their names?_

_What's to say they even remember their real names after years and years of aliases and fake IDs?_

_Will Misa ambush Katherine over something the next time she sees her?_

_Will I offer any more background info on Katherine in the next chapter? *cough*yes*cough* Wait, who said yes? *sidewaysglance*_

_Where exactly is Rem hiding out at?_

_Will ramification be the word of the day?_

_Why yes, it will!_

_And fummins is still the word of eternity. I'd rather not get roundhouse kicked in the face, so it is. And will be. For eternity._

_Cactus will be the word of the week as soon as I buy a new one. I miss my old one. I named it Fluffy :) And it bit me when I tried to give it a hug :/ Then it died :( Wal-Mart should have some more in soon, though. Any ideas for cactus names? Feel free to help me out._

_Ah, and Slartibartfast is still the word of the year as well, of course. I've started rereading Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy since that was reinstated. Tis awesomely amusing. I still reccomend it to anyone who hasn't read it before.  
_


	43. AN: Please, I beg of you, DON'T kill me

So… yeah, as I said. Don't kill me. I beg of you, please don't do that.

I know it's been ages since I've updated. I'm sorry, I've been through some rough patches in regards of school and writer's block and a total and utter inability to complete this story due to inconsistencies in the plot; even if you don't notice them, I know they're there, because I just didn't plan the story well enough.

I am by no means stopping; I am merely totally rewriting the entire thing.

And I DON'T mean I'm changing the entire plotline. A lot of the same stuff will be there. In fact, you can even expect quite a lot of reused chapters (which will be corrected of spelling errors in the process and possibly have some minor detail added/taken out, but not much changed).

My biggest issue was with the beginning of the story, since I just _didn't_ plan it well enough until later on. It will be pretty revamped. I am of the opinion that Katherine was a total raging Mary-Sue towards the beginning of the story who just didn't develop well enough until later on.

And Pat, Don, and Al. Let's face it, I wrote Al into the story just so he would die. Now, since writing the prequel (and not finishing it quite yet, but it's all planned out on my computer from start to finish), I really feel that I didn't do him justice at _all_. He's just a total flat and static character. Pat and Don had the same issues—not quite to the extent of Al, but they definitely did. I didn't realize that any of them were going to play a huge role in the story later, so I didn't bother developing their characters, which led to issues.

I am psychotic over character development and keeping details straight. Hence my issue.

I just want to apologize again, and assure everyone that the first chapter of the rewrite (which will simply be titled "**The King's Note rewrite**") will be up soon as it is almost done. I will be leaving the original up for awhile, too, of course. So, the first chapter of the rewrite should be up either sometime tonight or tomorrow night.

So for now, I bid thee adieu, and apologize once again for cutting this fic short so effing far into it.


End file.
